Volleyball: Eagles sweep Pioneers; reach semis at Northville Tournament
By Darryl Warner / For WLAA
The Skyline volleyball team hosted crosstown rival Pioneer last Tuesday night. The SEC Red Division matchup is the first of several upcoming conference games for the Eagles in the next couple of weeks.
The Eagles proved to be a dominate force and swept the Pioneers 25-14, 25-14, 25-8.
The first set proved the Eagles were more than ready to play against the Pioneers. Skyline flew out to a 5-0 lead behind the assists and kills from Senior Stacie Warner to Senior Kendal Murray and Freshman Harper Murray. Skyline continued their dominance on offense and defense, opening their lead to 12-4 before the Pioneers called timeout.
Skyline pressed on and opened their lead to 17-6 highlighted by their defense behind Seniors Megan Brummet and McKenna Pfeffer. The Pioneers caught momentum following a block at the net and scoring 5 consecutive points and closing the Eagles lead to 17-11. The Pioneers could only score three more points and the Eagles finished the set on an ace from Kendal Murray.
The Pioneers were determined to not be a push over in set two. They took an 8-6 lead over the Eagles early in the set. The Eagles took a 10-9 lead on an assist from Warner to Harper Murray and never looked back the rest of the set. The Eagles scored five consecutive points behind the serve of Brummet before Pioneer called timeout.
The break in play did not deter the Eagles as they scored two more points for a 16-9 lead. The Pioneers scored two consecutive points to close the Eagles lead to 16-11. The Eagles would score 6 consecutive points behind the difficult to handle serves of Harper Murray and widening the Eagles lead to 22-11. The Pioneers would score three more points but Warner closed any hopes of a Pioneer comeback on an ace to the middle of the court.
The Eagles closed the door on the Pioneers in set 3 from the outset. The Eagles scored first on an assist from Claire Davis to Harper Murray. Harper Murray would score two aces on the way to a 5-0 lead before Pioneer calling timeout.
Coming out of the timeout Sophie Schrag blocked a Pioneer hit to the middle of the court. Skyline would open the lead to 10-2 before Pioneer scored on a kill to make the score 10-3. Skyline would go on to score eight consecutive points behind the serves of Warner and offensive kills of Kendal Murray and Sophomore Nora Halloran.
The Murray sisters would connect on an assist and kill of their own during the Eagles right point run. The Eagles mishandled a couple of passes late in the game but finished set three on a hit out of bounds by the Pioneers.
The Eagles traveled to Northville on Saturday for the Northville tournament. The Eagles advanced to the Gold bracket by going undefeated in pool play against Pinkney, Davison, and Brighton High School. In the first match Skyline beat Pinkney High School in two sets 25-18 and 25-18. The Eagles had to come back from a four point deficit in the first set to beat Pinkney High School.
The Eagles beat Davison in two straight sets 25-16 and 25-11. In the third match of pool play the Eagles beat Brighton High School 25-16 and 25-14.
The Eagles were excited to play their first match of the Gold Bracket as they were paired against the Hornets of Saline High School. Similar to previous matchups against Saline the Eagles played at the top of their game. Skyline played inspired Volleyball against Saline as they blocked as many as 10 of Saline hits at the net and barely let any balls hit the floor on their side of the court.
The Eagles dominated the Hornets and beat them in two straight sets 25-14 and 25-10. Skyline advanced to the semifinals against Clarkston High School. The Eagles lost in two straight sets to Clarkston who went on to play Northville in the Gold bracket championship game.
The Eagles will host Monroe in a SEC Red division match on Thursday, Oct. 3. First serve is at 7 p.m.
