The Kenston Bombers and Riverside Beavers sit atop the Western Reserve Conference volleyball standings for good reason. Both teams are fast, athletic, skilled in every facet of the game, and play with confidence in every point played.
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The Kenston Bombers and Riverside Beavers sit atop the Western Reserve Conference volleyball standings for good reason. Both teams are fast, athletic, skilled in every facet of the game, and play with confidence in every point played.
The Bombers won their first meeting, but with first place in the WRC at stake Sept. 28 at Kenston, one could only expect an all-out war — and that’s just what they got as Kenston claimed a thrilling 3-0 decision by putting their skills to good use.
Tied in the early going of the first set, Raegan Timmons blocked a kill attempt to give the Bombers (12-4, 6-0 in WRC) a 4-3 lead. Up stepped Riley Rosneck, who promptly served up four aces in a row to increase the edge.
Avari Amstutz followed with a definitive slam to the left corner, and in one of the few early errors for the Beavers, a kill attempt went long over the back line, giving the Bombers a 10-3 lead. But the lead only narrowed to two points at best until Peyeton Pampush sent a bullet to the right corner for a 25-18 set victory.
Neither team could get much from serving in the second set, won by the Bombers by a 26-24 count. Displaying power and finesse with superb skillsets, the Beavers had the upper hand much of the set, until a net serve from Riverside and a dink to the middle set things up at 24-24.
Sadie Poudevigne put a slam to the right corner to untie the set, and followed that up with a perfectly placed dink to the right sideline to close out the set.
One major adjustment for the Bombers had come into play by that time that helped Kenston close out the third set, as they maintained a five- to seven-point lead in again taking the set and match, 25-18.
“We had to get our middle hitters more involved in things after the first set,” Coach Christian Jolley said. “Both teams were hitting the ball well in the early going, but our libero was getting hammered on the back lines, making better passes and sets difficult. We wanted to force their hitters to back up from the nets a bit, and we finally were able to get it done in the third set. That helped us to improve on our blocking, too, and both teams played such a great match in getting to balls, we really had to work to win. That’s what is expected from good teams.”
Rosneck had a big night for Kenston with 10 kills, nine points, four aces, four blocks and seven digs. Pampush had 10 kills and four blocks as well. Kate Hershberger had 15 digs, Janie Kechenski had nine digs and 20 assists, Lindy Kerchenski added 18 assists, and Avari Amstutz had a mean game at the nets with 11 kills.
Riverside Coach Jess Marut, while disappointed, felt her team played a solid match.
“They just run such a quick offense, your blockers need to know what spot to go to on the floor in a hurry, to get to the right spaces,” she said. “We played very well, but they made the big plays when they had to have them. That’s what everybody expects when the top two teams in the league matchup, so our best efforts tonight came up short.”
As the season winds down, it is safe to expect these teams to make long tournament runs and do well in WRC action.
