KP Volleyballers Pick Up Second Win Of The Season

The King Philip volleyball team played tentatively in its first set against Sharon, but eventually composed themselves and prevailed 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-13 and 25-12) over the visiting Eagles to improve to 2-4 on the season. The loss dropped Sharon to 2-3.

During the first set, the King Philip girls not only had numerous net violations, but they also made many unforced errors. They still came through with the first set win.

“We came out really cold in that first set and were slow in starting,” KP Coach Cindy Souza said. “Eventually we turned things around and started to pull it out.”

Sharon grabbed the first points of the second set and, after exchanging the next four points, the Eagles ran of seven straight points to take an 11-4 lead. 

Having won the first set with miscues, the Warriors seemed to revert back to their old ways making indecisions, hitting long balls out of bounds and once again hitting the net for infractions. In doing so, Sharon kept inching away and eventually took the second set to even the score at one. KP outscored the Eagles 10-5 down the stretch, but still could not catch Sharon.

“In the second set, I changed the lineup a bit to give different girls an opportunity to play,” the KP coach said. “The girls were not used to one another so they needed to gel. I also changed from our normal 6-2 to a 5-1 in that set.”

Souza went back to the 6-2 in the third set and the team cruised from there, outscoring the visitors 50-25 over the last two sets for the victory.

In both sets, the Warriors grabbed the first point and opened up a 5-0 and 4-0 lead in the third and fourth set, respectively. As the defense continued to come up with some big blocks, especially from Julie Farabaugh and Masline Mellick, the offense was gaining the confidence they lacked in the opening two sets.

While KP was moving forward, Sharon seemed to be running in quicksand and not doing the things they needed to win.

“We were not reacting. When you call a timeout and tell them what they’re doing wrong [KP was getting a lot of drop shots in the middle of the court], you’d hope they’d listen,” Sharon Coach David Philips said. “Instead, they went back onto the court and watched as King Philip continued to do the same things. We’re not young, but we do have a lot of girls playing varsity for the first time.”

Leading 6-2 in the fourth set, the home squad rolled off seven straight points behind the serving of Casey Norris. The run would give the Warriors a double-digit lead KP would not relinquish and went on to take the set by 13 and sent the Eagles headed toward their bus.

KP’s Mellick, who came into the game under the weather, had herself a great day recording kill after kill for the Warriors, while the Eagle’s Allie Dichiara did a phenomenal job for Sharon moving all around the court.  Also playing well for Sharon was the young backline of Erica Pais and Jasmine Lau.

Sharon will continue on the road as they travel to Attleboro on Wednesday, while the Warriors will visit Canton on the same day for a 4:45pm game.