After coming within a point of a massive comeback against the Vanier Crusaders Thursday night, the Porter Creek Rams senior girls were back to their winning ways, ending the Super Volley regular season with a straight-set win Friday at home.
With the exception of a 4-0 Warriors lead in the third set, taken on the serve of Karly Kazakoff, the Rams rolled over the visiting FH Collins team 25-10, 25-7, 25-15.
“We’ve seen FH play a lot better,” said Rams middle Emily Nugent. “They are a pretty strong team when they come together, so obviously it wasn’t their best game. It happens to everyone, but we are happy with our win.”
“Unfortunately, it was not one of our best,” said Warriors setter Taylor Hanna. “We tried a new set up with six up instead of six back, so our middle back player isn’t too far back, but I think we had too many holes that we weren’t used to.
“PC also just put it right in those spots really well.”
The Rams took the opening set on a kill by Anna Smith before teammate Fiona Azizaj served out the second set, with four straight service winners. Porter Creek then took the match with a successful serve from Samantha Jarvis, who gave the Rams match-point with a kill the point before.
“We need to work on our first passes up – those first touches are really important,” said Hanna. “I have to work on getting my sets to where they need to be. We have great hitters, just getting it to the hitters, is something we need to work on.”
With the win, the Rams, who prevented a Vanier Crusader sweep of the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament just more than a week ago by winning the senior girls’ title, secured the top seed and a bye to the Super Volley finals next week, leaving the Crusaders and Warriors to battle for the remaining spot.
For her well-balanced performance Friday, Courtney Greenway was named Player of the Game for the Rams.
“She was passing really well, her sets that she had to take were really good, and she was hitting really well,” said Nugent. “Her serves were consistent. All around she played a really good game.”
Getting the corresponding honour for the Warriors was power Marley Kolpin.
“She definitely deserves it, she’s a great hitter, she’s always positive, but serious at the same time,” said Hanna. “She’s always covering and she knows where she needs to be.”
The previous evening the Rams almost pulled off a huge comeback against the Crusaders, coming back from two sets down, getting four match-points in the fifth set before losing 26-24, 25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 17-15.
“It was hard last night, but it was alright today,” said Nugent. “Today we shook it off. We knew what we needed to do to win and that’s what we did.”
See more coverage in Wednesday’s print edition
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com