CROWLEY'S RIDGE COLLEGE: Solid Serving Lifts Lady Pioneer Volleyball to Victory

By Press release submission

Sep 21, 2021

Crowley's Ridge College issued the following announcement on Sept. 16.

Crowley's Ridge officially began a winning streak by defeating hosting Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University in four sets, 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-22). The Lady 'Neers would send 13 serves over the net ending in aces in the victory.

Crowley's Ridge (3-5) opened the contest going back-and-forth with the Harris-Stowe State (3-5) Hornets with the Lady 'Neers holding an 11-8 advantage. The Hornets would then rattle off three different runs of five unanswered points and a pair of 3-0 runs to take the opening set 25-19.

Unfazed, CRC took the second set to a 16-16 tie before deciding to put distance between the squads. The girls in green ended the second set with seven straight points, including two service aces from Hannah Halverson to tie the match at one set apiece with a 25-17 set victory.

The third set saw both teams pull ahead before the opponent would answer to take a sizeable lead of their own. CRC began with a 12-7 lead before HSSU countered to take a 21-17 lead. Not willing to go down easily, Kaitlyn Perkins' service ace sparked a late comeback for the Lady Pioneers with eight of the last nine rallies ending with the referee's arm pointed to the visitor's side of the court for a 25-23 set win.

Back-to-back-to-back attack errors had the fourth set start slow for both teams. Olivia Deckelman was able to settle the Pioneer attack with a kill followed by a service ace, one of the Lady Pioneers' 13. CRC saw a 22-13 lead evaporate as the Hornets went on a 9-1 run late to pull within a single point with the Lady Pioneers ahead 23-22. Jadyn Hesse would end the match with her lone kill after assisting on 15 others to take the set and match 25-22.

Halverson ended her night with nine kills, trailed by Emi Elms' seven. Elm had a pair of blocks, while Perkins anchored the back row with 17 digs. In one of their most accurate matches, the Lady 'Neers notched a 20% attack mark for the match, with no set falling under 10%.

CRC continued to flex their serving muscles, earning 13 service aces, led by Perkins' four. Hesse collected three, while Deckelman, Halverson, and Brooklynn Passmore each tallied a pair.

"We were aggressive but more consistent tonight," said Coach Carissa Winn about her team's serving. "We've learned how to adjust our serves to each team."

Original source can be found here.