WILMINGTON — Padua’s volleyball team scored the first eight points on Sept. 23 when Indian River traveled north to Wilmington, and the Pandas went on to a 3-0 sweep of the Indians. Set scores were 25-13, 25-19, and 25-18.
It was a bit of a measure of retribution for the Pandas. Indian River ended Padua’s 2022 season with a win in the first round of the DIAA volleyball tournament last November.
Four aces from Kaitlyn Leberstien highlighted the 8-0 opening run for Padua. The lefthander handcuffed the Indians again and again. The Pandas put together another run a few points later, and again, the serve was key. This time, Ally Lang delivered a pair of aces as the lead reached 11. The advantage grew to as large as 13 after an Avery Pilger attack, and the set ended, fittingly, on a Kaitlyn Maus ace.
Leberstien had two more aces in the opening stages of the second, but this one would turn out much closer. IR took a 5-4 lead on a kill, but an Aanya Yatavelli attack tied it up. The Indians had one more tie at 9-9, but Padua went ahead on another Yatavelli kill and extended the lead on a Caroline Buggy ace. Hannah McGuigan’s block wrapped up a 5-0 run that put the Pandas ahead, 14-9.
Padua’s lead grew to 23-14 before the Indians ripped off five in a row, but an attack from Yatavelli was dug out of bounds to sent it to set point. McGuigan then sent a ball off an Indian River defender and out of bounds to clinch the second.
The Indians scrapped their way to a 7-6 lead in the third, and they were ahead again at 8-7, but Vanessa Mancini sent the Pandas on their way with a set-tying blast. That started a 5-0 stretch that included three kills from Avery Pilger. Perhaps the point of the match came soon after, as both teams sent bodies all over during a long rally that finally came to an end when a Padua shot fell long, pulling the Indians to within two at 15-13.
With Pilger on serve, however, Padua put it away. She tossed up three straight aces to make it 19-13, and after an Indians timeout, Leberstien sent an attack off the end line. IR tried to come back, but an attack error brought the afternoon to its conclusion.
Final statistics were not available Saturday evening. Unofficially, the Pandas finished with 16 aces. Padua, who defeated Caravel on Friday night, improved to 3-3 and heads down the hill to rival Ursuline on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Indians (2-3) visit Caesar Rodney on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
All photos by Mike Lang.
