WILMINGTON — Saint Mark’s used their height and strong service game to overcome Wilmington Charter in volleyball on Nov. 10. The Spartans won by scores of 25-13, 25-15, and 25-19.
After a first set in which the Spartans were never challenged, the teams battled well into the second. It was tied at 9-9 when the Spartans made the move that would propel them to victory in the set. A Charter hitting error put Saint Mark’s back on top, and Kyla Dow followed with an ace. Not to be outdone, older sister Brooke Dow blocked a tip from the Force, only to have Kyla serve up another ace. After an error and a Force timeout, Kyla Dow threw up yet another ace to extend the run to six points.
Brooke Dow had three kills among the Spartans’ final seven points, the last one sending it to set point. A violation on Wilmington Charter ended the second.
The Force had several small leads throughout the first part of the final set. Anjali Vishwanathan made it 4-2 with a lob shot over the Saint Mark’s defense. Several points later, Ava MacMurray’s ace gave the hosts an 11-9 advantage. But the Spartans scored the next three pointsto take their first lead at 12-11 when Mya Lewis followed a great dig by Brooke Dow with a smash off the Charter wall.
The teams were tied at each point between 12 and 15 before the Spartans took the lead for good. Sarah Hessler began a three-point run by directing a dink to the floor before Kyla Dow went for back-to-back aces. Charter pulled to within two points as late as 20-18 on a block by Vishwanathan, but Saint Mark’s scored five of the final six to take the match.
Brooke Dow and Lewis each had six kills, while Kyla Dow had five aces and 14 digs. The Spartans improved to 7-0 and host Ursuline on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
For the Force (1-6), Christina Marcin had 10 kills. Addie Miller led with 15 digs. Charter is home against Conrad on Thursday afternoon at 3:45.
All photos by Mike Lang.
