The Dialog

Dialog reporter

MILLTOWN – Padua’s volleyball team kept its season-opening win streak going, while handing St. Mark’s it’s first defeat of 2017 in a 3-0 win Sept. 19. The set scores in the first Catholic Conference match of the year were 25-21, 25-19 and 25-17.

A large, spirited crowd was on hand to watch the Pandas, ranked third in the state by 302Sports.com, battle the No. 4 Spartans. Both teams came into the evening with 3-0 records and just one lost set between them, as Padua defeated Newark Charter by a 3-1 score. The fans saw lots of big hits and a night full of superb defense by both teams. Read more »

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ALAPOCAS – Senior Erin Derick and sophomore Savannah Seemans combined for 24 kills, seven blocks, seven digs and 35 assists to lead St Mark’s to a sweep of Friends in nonconference volleyball on Sept. 12. The Spartans won by set scores of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-17. Read more »

Dialog reporter

St. Mark’s surprised some observers last season by putting up a 9-6 regular season before falling to Wilmington Charter in the first round of the tournament.

“I was a little surprised (by last year’s success),” senior hitter Erin Derick said. “Going into the tournament and having a bye, that was surprising for me because I’d never had one before, but with all the great girls that we had, it wasn’t that surprising.” Read more »

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WILMINGTON – The young Ursuline volleyball team sent its seniors out with a win on Oct. 29 against St. Mark’s. The Raiders took the match in a sweep, 25-18, 25-16 and 25-17.

Fourth-ranked Ursuline jumped out early in the first set as Sam Davis had a kill and an ace to stake them to an 8-3 advantage. Corinne Furey then took over with a run of three kills to increase the lead to 14-6. Genevieve Hughes capped a St. Mark’s run that cut the deficit to 16-13, but Ursuline ended the set on a 9-5 run with a Cassidy Markel kill. Read more »

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MILLTOWN – St. Mark’s, the sixth-ranked volleyball team in the state, is in a tough stretch of its schedule, but the Spartans swept No. 8 Red Lion on Oct. 17. The Spartans won by scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-18. Junior Erin Derick had 14 kills, eight digs and 10 assists to pace the Spartans.

The Lions were hanging with St. Mark’s in the first set, trailing 10-7, before the Spartans closed it out with a 15-5 run. Genevieve Hughes and Derick each had two kills in that span, although the set ended with a Red Lion service error. Read more »

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MILLTOWN — St. Mark’s used a balanced attack and scoring runs at key points to upend Delaware Military Academy, 3-1, in nonconference volleyball action Oct. 11. Set scores were 25-22, 21-25, 27-25 and 25-23.

The match was all about runs, and the team that had the lead at the beginning of each set lost. The first set started with No. 3 DMA jumping out to a 14-9 lead, with five different Seahawks contributing kills. Read more »

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CLAYMONT — Third-ranked Archmere and fifth-ranked St. Mark’s put on quite a show on the volleyball court Sept. 27 at the Moglia Fieldhouse, with the Auks needing five sets to survive the Spartans. For Archmere, it was the first of a four-match stretch during which they will also meet Wilmington Charter, Delaware Military Academy and Ursuline, all ranked in the top seven.

Set scores were 25-17, 22-25, 25-21, 15-25 and 15-5. For Archmere (6-0), it was the first match against a top-10 team. Read more »

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WILMINGTON – Emily Jarome had 20 kills to lead No. 2 Padua past fifth-ranked St. Mark’s in a key Catholic Conference showdown on Sept. 20. Set scores wre 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 and 26-24 in a packed Padua gymnasium that had an electric atmosphere.

The Pandas got some help from St. Mark’s in the first set, thanks to five service errors. Jarome, Jessica Molen and Ella Welsh each had two kills as Padua took the set. Read more »

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MILLTOWN – St. Mark’s, currently ranked eighth in the state in volleyball, pulled off an early upset, outlasting No. 4 Wilmington Friends in five sets on Sept. 13. The Spartans took an intense match by scores of 25-7, 18-25, 23-25, 25-21 and 18-16.

St Mark’s started strong in the first set, thanks to some early kills by Gillian Lytle and Erin Derick, as they went up, 13-6. They ended the set on a 12-1 run behind the serving game of Grace Frati, who had four aces in the final nine points. Read more »