Eagles bounce back, defeat Gators in volleyball

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on September 10, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

Rosewood volleyball coach Jennifer Cochran wasn't expecting her team to have much success at the net on Tuesday evening.

She was surprised when the Eagles completely dominated up front against Carolina 1-A Conference foe Spring Creek.

The blocking and hitting ability of Lexi Mercer, Ashley Thornton and Hannah Daniels led Rosewood to a 14-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-19 win.

"We're usually the ones getting beat at the net, so it was kind of surprising we were able to do so well," Cochran said. "But the ball was around the net for most of the match, so it was the way we had to play."

Mercer put in an impressive performance with 17 kills and 12 blocks. Thornton had eight kills, while Daniels had seven kills and eight blocks.

Cochran commended the great play from freshman Macey Tyndall. Tyndall had five digs and three kills, but her ability to keep plays alive is what impressed Cochran the most.

"She does a lot of things that don't show up on stat sheets," Cochran said. "She kept the ball in the box tonight and those things go unnoticed."

A young team, after dropping the first game in decisive fashion, the Eagles could have folded. Instead, they dug deep and gained momentum in sets two and three before leaving the Gators demoralized and unable to recover in the final set.

"We really have to work on once we get into a rut making sure we get out of it," Spring Creek coach Staci Pence said. "We haven't done a very good job with that in the past two games and the mental part has hurt us."

Rachel McCollum led the Gators with 13 kills and Sarah Ford handed out 18 assists. Daisy Martinez had two blocks and Lexie Reyes had three digs.

Martinez played some of her best volleyball in the first set for the Gators. But toward the end of set two she began to struggle and couldn't get herself out of the rut. Her struggles encapsulated the struggles the rest of the team experienced.

The Gators began to not only wilt mentally, but also physically. Their hitting technique faltered and the players failed to consistently get on top of the ball to hit down on it.

When the hitting started to falter, the passing followed. A usually good passing team, the Gators scrambled for much of the game and didn't set players up near the net often enough.

"That's where our strength usually is, but tonight the passing just wasn't there," Pence said. "Our sets were either too close or too far from the net to let the hitters do much with them."

The Eagles' passing, on the other hand, proved to be the difference maker for the offense. Ada Rivera played outstanding as setter and registered 33 assists.

"Ada was awesome tonight," Mercer said, who benefited most from the stellar passing play. "She was putting the ball right where it needed to be and we were able to find the ground with our shots."