Lady Mikes sweep past J-M, 3-0
CARMICHAELS — In front of a raucous crowd, the Carmichaels volleyball squad protected home court and avenged an earlier defeat to Jefferson-Morgan with a 3-0 sweep in Section 2-A play Thursday night.
The Lady Mikes completed the sweep by the scores, 25-20, 25-18, 26-24.
With the win, the Lady Mikes (7-4, 6-4) are in sole possession of third place in the section behind Frazier and California.
“We brought the right energy tonight and we fed off the crowd,” Carmichaels coach Ashley Shoemaker said. “It was important to pick up a section win on our home court. We played with confidence and limited our unforced errors. That is something that we didn’t do the last time we played them.”
The Lady Rockets (4-6, 4-6) are now out of the top three spots in the section and will have to battle with Geibel Catholic and West Greene for the final playoff spot in the section with two weeks left of the regular season.
“Our serves killed us,” J-M coach Julia Lash said. “And, we really didn’t do a good job with our serve-receive either. We were inconsistent from the start. We were off tonight and just couldn’t get over that hump. We got behind early in all three sets.”
Carmichaels jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the opening set, but J-M rallied back with seven of the next eight points to deadlock things at 11-11.
After a kill from Autumn Tedrow gave the Lady Rockets a 16-14 lead, the home team rebounded and grabbed the momentum with an 11-4 spurt to end the first set.
Carmichaels’ Lauren Walker had four service points in the run, while Kristina Aeschbacher and Taylor Christopher were patrolling things up front at the net.
In the second set, the Lady Mikes sprung to a 7-1 advantate and then carried the play with leads of 11-7 and 20-9. J-M fought back into the game to make things interesting, but a timely push by Carmichaels’ Jadyn Barnish was the deciding point for the home team.
It was a more evenly played third set by both teams, as there were seven ties in the set.
The Lady Rockets broke away from an 11-11 deadlock and reclaimed the lead at 18-17 after back-to-back aces by Caitlyn Dugan.
After the teams traded points, J-M led 24-23 before Carmichaels finished off the sweep with three straight points in the set. A kill by Meighan Spishock was the exclamation point and game-winning point for the Lady Mikes.
“This is a crazy year in the section,” Shoemaker said. “There’s never an easy night and it was so important for us to get this split with Jefferson and to win at home. This is a big win for our girls. Every night we are looking to play at a high standard.”
Spishock slammed a team-high eight kills for Carmichaels, while Aeschbacher (5 kills) and Christopher (7 kills) had steady nights at the net.
Barnish ended her night with 19 assists and 12 service points, while Walker (15 digs, 9 service points) and Aubree Ferek (14 digs, 12 service points, 5 kills) had well-rounded games. Grace Kerr also dished out 13 assists for the Lady Mikes.
“I thought our passing was fantastic tonight,” Shoemaker said. “Our setters have come a long way. They are doing a better job of setting up plays and strategically thinking about where the ball should go. They are giving the ball to our strong hitters. I thought the passing in the back line was really good tonight, too.”
Key contributors for the Lady Rockets were Tedrow (5 kills, 5 blocks), Brooke Diamond (15 service points), Anna Mattish (6 kills) and Jamie Lawrence (10 digs).
“We have to be more consistent with each other down the stretch,” Lash said. “We have the talent, we just have to come together and communicate better on the court. We have to learn how to get a long and really focus in on our serve-receive.”