WILMINGTON — The St. Elizabeth volleyball team celebrated senior night on Oct. 17 with a 3-1 victory over Christiana. Set scores were 25-21, 19-25, 25-20, and 25-20.
Four girls were recognized: Ariel Garcia, Sirriya Cruz, Jabriel Brown and Olivia Justison. Each played a key role as St. Elizabeth won the battle of the Vikings.
Justison was on serve to open the match, and she delivered a pair of aces in a 5-0 run, which ended with a kill from Brown. Christiana, however, battled back, tying the score on a smash from Abigail Dreher. A few points later, Dreher blocked a St. E’s attack to give Christiana a 10-7 lead, but a hitting error spurred an 8-0 run for St. Elizabeth. Brown had three aces during that stretch.
Led by Alyssa Brady, Christiana maintained a small lead throughout most of the second set. Brown handcuffed a Christiana player on a serve to knot the score at 16, and it was tied, 18-18, until Christiana pulled away. Brady provided the power down the stretch, and a push down the sideline from Anaiyah Daniels evened the match at a set apiece.
The maroon-and-gold Vikings threatened to run away with the third set. They led, 8-1, after an attack error on the red-and-blue Vikings, and were ahead by seven once more at 13-6 after an ace from Charlize Campbell and a Christiana miscue. A 6-0 run that included back-to-back kills for Justison, an ace from Alexis Testerman and block for Brown made the score 19-7. Christiana surged, getting to within four at 23-19, but St. E’s held on.
The fourth set ended with the same margin as the third, and the St. Elizabeth Vikings marked their second straight victory.
Brown led the way with 11 kills, seven aces and four blocks. Garcia had seven kills and Justison six. The Vikings combined for 16 aces. St. Elizabeth (4-8) hosts Wilmington Friends on Saturday at 2 p.m.
No statistics were available for Christiana. Those Vikings (5-8) welcome Hodgson on Friday at 5 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
