Lady Rockets sweep past Geibel, 3-0
Holly Tonini
Holly Tonini Jefferson-Morgan’s Autmn Tedrow (5) goes for the block against Geibel Catholic’s Grace Nowicki (14) during Tuesday’s Section 5-A match at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Geibel Catholic's Abby Sitko (18) hits a volley in during Tuesday's Section 5-A match against Jefferson-Morgan at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan’s Autmn Tedrow (5) sets the ball during Tuesday’s Section 5-A contest against Geibel Catholic at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Geibel Catholic's Alexa Henckel (7) reaches back to keep the ball in play during Tuesday's Section 5-A match against Jefferson-Morgan at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
JEFFERSON — Despite all three sets being tight, the Jefferson-Morgan volleyball squad made the key points and the key runs at the critical times, sweeping Geibel Catholic, 3-0, Tuesday night in Section 5-A play.
With three section matches left, the Lady Rockets (11-3, 8-1) are in sole possession of second place in the section with a chance of winning the section crown.
“Geibel is always a good rivalry for us,” J-M coach Lisa Olson said. “We knew we couldn’t relax or go through the motions tonight. We always want to cut down on our unforced errors and we wanted to attack the net.”
J-M took the match in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21, and swept the season series with the Lady Gators (4-7, 3-7).
“We are starting to gain experience and we started the year with a lot of the girls having no varsity experience at all,” Geibel coach Rick Watkins said. “We are learning as we go and sure we are taking our bumps on the way. The girls are competitive and they are getting what we are teaching.”
Geibel took a 1-0 lead in the opening set after an ace by Alexa Henckel, but J-M rebounded with back-to-back points, courtesy of a kill and a block from Morgan Simkovic.
After the teams traded points, the Lady Rockets got separation with a 9-2 spurt keyed by two aces from Abby Phillips.
The visitors got as close as 14-9, before J-M ended the first set with an 11-9 run.
In the second set, the squads exchanged rallies before the Lady Rockets collected a 15-9 lead after kills from Autumn Tedrow and Anna Mattish.
“Autumn and Anna have really stepped up their games,” Olson said. “Both saw limited time last year, and this season they have grown. They understand the whole game and they have really good game sense. They are both hard workers in practice and it carries over into games.”
The Lady Gators rallied and trimmed the deficit to 18-16 after kills from Abby Sitko and Alyssa Hutchinson. J-M countered that run by tallying seven of the next 11 points for a 2-0 advantage.
Geibel started out the third set with leads of 7-4 and 10-7, before J-M rumbled back to knot things up at 10-10 and then ran off eight of the next 10 points for an 18-12 lead.
The Lady Gators scored five straight points to cut the deficit to one, but the Lady Rockets rebounded and ended the night with a 7-4 spurt for the sweep.
Simkovic ended her night with a game-high 10 kills, while Tedrow and Mattish hammered home six and four kills, respectively.
Jamie Lawrence notched 40 digs in the win for J-M, while Camryn Dugan compiled a double-double with 18 assists and 10 service points.
“These girls are pretty versatile and they can do a lot of different things,” Olson said. “We have two girls out of our normal rotation tonight and we had to work through it. We had some miscommunication at times tonight, but we overcame it. We can’t afford to be passive, we have to be aggressive and set the tempo.”
Geibel’s notable scorers were Hutchinson (7 kills, 3 blocks), Sitko (14 digs, 8 kills), Henckel (16 assists, 3 aces), Morgan Dewitt (17 digs) and Grace Nowicki (3 blocks).
“We were a little inconsistent and it’s always about getting reps for our girls,” Watkins said. “We have to work harder in the offseason and be more active. Teams that are good get their reps in the offseason. Jefferson is a good team with a lot of height, experience and excellent coaching.”
J-M will be back in section action on Thursday when it travels to California, while Geibel is idle until the Lady Gators host the Lady Trojans next Tuesday.