Brian Hagberg
FOXBURG, Pa. – In a battle of evenly matched teams, A-C Valley came away with a 3-0 win over visiting Sheffield Thursday.
The Falcons took advantage of strong serving and a stingy defense to come away with a 25-20, 25-21 and 25-22 win over the Wolverines.
“In the first two sets, we struggled to convert our attacks into kills,” Sheffield coach Melissa Lemay said. “On 99 attack attempts, we finished with only 18 kills on the night.”
As a testament to that defense, the Falcons had three players finish with more than 15 digs. Rachel Cullen led the way with 20 digs, while Meah Ielease and Andrea Meals had 17 each.
A-C Valley was able to serve eight total aces for the match, and were strong enough on serves throughout the match to force Sheffield receive errors.
“They served tough,” Lemay said. “We had 17 serve receive errors.”
Kassidy Orinko led the Wolverines with seven kills, four blocks and 13 digs. Emily Leichtenberger added 14 digs and three kills. Kadence Steffan dished out 17 assists.
Mia Sherman had 12 kills to pace the Falcons offense. Ielease and Meals had eight kills each and Tarra Stefanacci ran the offense with 26 assists.
Despite the loss, Lemay was proud of the way her team played and appreciated getting a glimpse into what playoff competition will look like.
“The girls played well tonight,” she said. “They played loose and looked like they were having fun. It was a good match for us to have at this time of the year to push us as we prepare for D9 playoffs.”
A-C Valley won the junior varsity match, 25-18 and 25-12.
