By Rob Potter
LAKE HUNTINGTON — September 17, 2010 — The Sullivan West volleyball team used a strong service game on Monday afternoon to earn its first win of the season.
SW swept the visiting Fallsburg Lady Comets in three straight games, 25-10, 25-17, 25-12, to record the victory in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV match.
In game 1, SW (1-2, 1-2 Div. IV) jumped out to a 6-2 lead as Erika Stauch and Brittany Milk each served an ace. Moments later, Amanda Goddard served consecutive aces to give the Lady Bulldogs a 12-3 advantage.
Goddard had another ace and Maya Grady also served an ace as SW closed out the game with a 13-7 scoring run.
Fallsburg (0-2, 0-2 Div. IV) took a 3-1 lead in game 2 on a kill by Isabel Mejia.
But the Lady Bulldogs quickly evened the score at 3-3 as Karalii Rabii had a kill and served an ace.
Rabii then recorded another ace to give SW a 4-3 advantage.
The rest of the game was relatively close as the score was tied three times.
However, the Lady Bulldogs were able to build a lead on their way to winning the game. Stauch had a kill and Grady served an ace on consecutive plays to give SW a 21-16 advantage.
In the third game, Rabii served three aces as the Lady Bulldogs moved ahead, 6-1.
Moments later Rabii made a kill to push SW’s advantage to 17-8.
From there, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Comets 8-4 to win the match.
Leading SW to the win were Goddard, Amanda Kehrley and Rabii. Goddard had seven service points, three kills and two digs. Kehrley recorded six service points, two kills and two digs. Rabii had five service points and four kills.
“We served the ball very well today,” SW Coach Cliff Kelly said. “I was very happy with our serving.”
Kelly noted that it was nice to get a win after losing to “two great teams, O’Neill and Burke” in the first two matches of the season.
“We played with confidence today,” Kelly added. “It was a good win for us.”
The leaders for Fallsburg were Courtney Huebsch, Alexis McCarthy and Mejia. Huebsch had five digs and four service points. McCarthy had 12 digs and four service points and Mejia made 14 digs.
“We had trouble with serving and our serve return,” Fallsburg Coach Andrea Millas said. “It’s frustrating because we were serving better in practice than we did out here today.”
Millas noted that her team is getting used to a new setter, Huebsch.
“The players need to communicate better and work together,” Millas said. “We need to get our excitement back and be fierce.”