Lady Rockets put up strong fight in loss to Vincentian
PERRYOPOLIS — Jefferson-Morgan’s volleyball team was peaking at the right time but still didn’t have quite enough to knock off seventh-seeded Vincentian Academy in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs last Thursday night.
The 10th-seeded Lady Rockets put up a valiant battle before falling, 3-1, at Frazier’s Henry DiVirgilio Field House as the Royals advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinals against second-seeded Fort Cherry, which knocked off Avella, 3-0.
Vincentian (13-2) gradually pulled away to a 25-17 win in the first set but J-M bounced back with a vengeance in the second set, taking it 25-14 to square the match. The Royals gutted out a 25-23 win in set three and then rallied from a 23-20 deficit in set four by scoring the final five points to close out the victory, 25-23.
“This was a heart-breaker because this was the best we’ve played all season by far,” third-year Lady Rockets coach Stephanie Woodruff said. “We had very few unforced errors, we were playing defense, our hitters were finding the court. We were hot all night.
“Just at the very end we made a few errors by over-playing our position and we just didn’t recover. I felt if we could’ve gotten to that fifth set I was really confident we would’ve taken it.”
Caitlyn Dugan was outstanding in her final match for Jefferson-Morgan, contributing eight kills, nine digs and 10 service points. She’s one of five J-M seniors.
“I’m losing Caitlyn, who’s my best all-around player,” said Woodruff, who also commended seniors Payton Wright, Haley Guty, Autumn Gustovich and Jessie Wei. “We had a great group of seniors coming back that had been playing varsity since they were sophomores, so I knew I had great leadership on this team.”
Gustovich totaled nine assists and seven digs, and Guty had 10 assists.
The Lady Rockets (11-8) still will have a strong cast returning next year, including sophomore Madison Wright, who rang up 10 kills, 18 service points with six aces, and seven digs.
“Madison Wright came through with lots of serving points, and at key times,” Woodruff said. “She kept us in it.”
Junior Abby Ankrom chipped in with 10 service points.
“It was a great season,” said Woodruff, who is in her 18th season as a volleyball coach. “I just wish it could’ve lasted one more match.”