WILMINGTON — After playing catch-up all night, the Padua volleyball team jumped out to a big lead against Newark Charter in the fifth set of their match on Oct. 2. The visiting Patriots, undefeated coming in and ranked third in the state by 302 Sports, saved two match points, but Josalyn Carter sent a two-handed stuff of a Newark Charter overpass to the floor to seal the 3-2 win in a match that exceeded two and a half hours.
Set scores were 20-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, and 15-10.
The first four sets followed a familiar pattern. The teams started out even, only to see Newark Charter surge into a lead. The Pandas, ranked 10th, would claw their way back into contention, and the stretch run of each set was a nailbiter for everyone involved.
In the first set, each team spent time in the lead, and they were tied at each point between 11 and 16. Aria Hoff caught fire from the service line, delivering a trio of aces in a 4-0 run that included a Padua timeout. A hitting error gave the Pandas a point and some hope, and after an Annamay Hendrison dink, a Reagan Maus ace and a hitting error, the set was tied. Hoff stopped the Pandas’ streak with a kill, the start of a set-ending run that Charlotte Seiler closed out with an ace.
The Patriots took a 16-12 lead in the second set when Kennedy Pavlekovich smacked a ball into the Pandas’ wall and down, and the lead remained at four points late into the set at 20-16. A few Newark Charter errors helped Padua pull even at 21, and the Pandas took the lead on an ace from SydneyPaige Huston. Carter scored on an attack, and another Huston ace gave Padua three set points. The Patriots saved two of them, but Julia Kelley (St. Ann Parish) evened the match with a cross for a winner.
Newark Charter jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third and threatened to run away with it. Zhara Pritchett, who was outstanding for the Patriots, helped get them there before a slam from Giavana Rea extended the lead to six and elicited a Padua timeout. The Pandas scored three straight after the timeout, but Newark Charter rebounded and stretched the lead to seven at 16-9.
Padua kept coming, cutting the deficit to one five times in the closing stretch, but they could not get even. After Charlotte Manning made it 23-22 Patriots with an attack down the left side, Julia Hanson served up an ace. Carter got the next one for the Pandas, but Pritchett put her team on top, 2-1 in sets, with an unplayable spike.
After a tight start to the fourth, Newark Charter used a 4-0 run to take a 13-8 lead, with Pavlekovich throwing up a highlight-reel block to get them there. The Pandas hit the comeback trail again, pulling even at 14-14 on a hitting error. Again, Newark Charter created some space, going up, 20-17, on a Pandas error. Padua scored the final eight points of the fourth, however, their longest streak of the evening, to send it to the fifth. Huston had two aces during that stretch, including the clinching point.
The Pandas made the fifth set the only one where they had the big lead. Pritchett opened with a block to get the Patriots on the board, but Hendrixson had her own 4-0 run, scoring on a tap, two stuffs and a block. Kelley then went down the right side, and Huston added an ace to get the score to 6-1.
Newark Charter cut a few points off that lead, but the Pandas could sniff victory. Kelley added another stuffed overpass, and a Padua attack went out of bounds off the Patriots. After Carter’s cross made the score 13-6, Padua surrendered a point on a violation, and Pritchett added another block. But a service error on the Patriots got the evening to match point, only to see Newark Charter score on a kill from Abigail Barnes and a Pritchett dunk.
The Pandas called a timeout, and they wrapped it up on the first point out of the break. Carter took advantage of a bumped ball too close to the net, and she took both hands and knocked the ball to the floor.
Kelley and Carter each had 12 kills, and Manning added 11. Huston served up six aces, and Abby Madigan collected 26 digs, many on blasts from Pritchett and Anaiah King. The Pandas (5-4) will host Delaware Military on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Newark Charter (7-1) is home against Wilmington Charter on Oct. 7 at 6:15 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
