WILMINGTON — The St. Elizabeth volleyball team showed plenty of drive on Oct. 2, when A.I. DuPont visited the St. E Center, but the Tigers left with a 3-1 win over the host Vikings. Set scores were 29-31, 25-16, 25-23, and 25-20.
The first set gave an indication of the kind of match that was to come. The teams traded leads on several occasions.The Vikings turned a 5-3 deficit into a 10-7 lead, with the last point coming on an ace from Taylor Episcopo, but a service error, followed by consecutive aces from the Tigers’ Fatima Kaba, tied the score.
A.I. went on a 5-0 run later in the first to go ahead, 19-13, but with Episcopo on serve, St. Elizabeth fought back. A few errors brought the Vikings to within one, and Sofia Carucci’s kill knotted the score at 19. St. E’s went up by two, but the Tigers fought back before the teams started trading set points. The Vikings had five, A.I. had two, before a Tigers hitting error and a Carucci kill brought the marathon first set to an end.
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second, and they kept the pressure on. Mallory D’Amato contributed a few aces along the way as the lead grew to 12 at one point. St. Elizabeth was able to cut into that a bit, but not quite enough.
The third set was much tighter. With the score tied, 7-7, A.I. took advantage of some unforced errors to go up by three, but Carucci and Ellie Koontz had kills, and Carley Coats scored with a block to get it back even.
The Tigers went ahead for good at 15-14, but the set win did not come easily. They had four set points, but Coats scored with an attack that went off her fingertips but found the floor. Two points later, Coats served up an ace, and the Tigers led by just one. But after a timeout, A.I.’s Sally Jane Wilkins smacked a ball off the Vikings’ wall for the win.
Jourdyn Henderson’s ace in the fourth set gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead, and although St. Elizabeth would stick within comeback range, they could not close the gap. In the middle of the set, Ariel Garcia scored on a tip, then an ace to get the Vikings back to 16-13, but a few points later, the Tigers’ lead had grown to six.
Down, 20-14, St. E’s made its final run. A 4-0 stretch that included a kill from Coats had the home fans buzzing, but Henderson closed out the match with a kill down the right side.
Final statistics were not available early Tuesday. A.I. DuPont (3-2) will visit Dickinson on Wednesday at 4:45 p.m., while the Vikings (1-6) travel to Wilmington Charter on Friday at 5 p.m.
All photos by Mike Lang.
