Lady Mikes shake off slow start, sweep Burgettstown
CARMICHAELS — Burgettstown threw an early scare into Carmichaels but the Lady Mikes regrouped and showed why they’re the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class A girls volleyball playoffs.
Carmichaels rallied from a 12-5 deficit in the opening game for a 25-18 win and never looked back, closing out the match in the final two games, 25-7 and 25-13, for a 3-0 first-round sweep on its home court.
The unbeaten Lady Mikes (15-0) will play either Beaver County Christian or Avella in the quarterfinals on Monday.
First-year Blue Devils coach James Nai’s plan of attack against Carmichaels worked, at least for a little while.
“We did a good job of scouting them,” Nai said. “We came out and executed the best we could that first game and everything was going according to our plan. But then, like a well-coached team, they adapted and adjusted and shut it down and ran away with it.”
Shortly after an early timeout by coach Ashley Shoemaker, the Lady Mikes went on an 11-3 run to take their first lead, 17-16, and gradually pulled away from there for the seven-point win and a 1-0 advantage.
“I think it was just their mental game early on,” Shoemaker said of her team’s early struggles. “They had an awesome warm-up and they should’ve had all the confidence in the world. In the timeout I was just trying to get them to refocus themselves, take it step by step, one point at a time and not get ahead of themselves.
“It seemed like we were just testing the waters, but then we took off from there.”
Shoemaker credited seniors Meighan Spishock and Grace Kerr with helping the Lady Mikes get back on track.
“I think Meighan and Grace both picked it up in the first set a lot,” Shoemaker said. “They just had that mental strength and then everybody followed suit after that.”
Carmichaels scored the first seven points in the second game and was never threatened in going up 2-0.
In the third game, the Lady Mikes scored nine consecutive points on Spishock’s serve to turn a one-point lead into a 10-2 advantage and cruised home from there.
Seniors Lexie Stratus, Cheyenne Sestric, McKenna Balmer, Jenna Palmer, Olivia Orgovan and Lexi Hart played their final game for Burgettstown (7-10).
“We’re a senior-laden team but we do have some talent coming up,” Nai said. “We had an up-and-down year and this game was indicative of our season. We were up for the first game and then games two and three we were down.”
Spishock led Carmichaels with 21 service points, six kills and 11 digs, and Alexandra McGee contributed 12 service points and 15 assists. The Lady Mikes also got 15 assists and eight service points from Grace Kerr, six kills and two blocks from Emma Hyatt, five kills from Taylor Christopher and 14 digs from Micaela Ricco.