Reardan beats St. George's in thriller

REARDAN – After dropping two of the first three sets, the Screaming Eagles' volleyball team eked out a five set win (25-17, 19-25, 20-25, 25-12, 15-13) in their match with the St. George's Dragons on Thursday, Oct 11.

In the matches' first set, the Screaming Eagles displayed more energy and aggressiveness than their opponent. They went on an early 6-0 run to jump to an 8-2 lead.

They stretched the lead to 24-14 before Reardan sophomore Kaylynn Clouse put the exclamation point on the win with a spike that tattooed the floor between two helpless Dragons to give her team the 25-17 win.

In the second and third sets, the Dragons stepped up their defense and attacked the net, keeping the Screaming Eagles back on their heels.

Despite three kills each from Clouse and fellow sophomore Emersen Sprecher, St. George's won the second set 25-19. In the third set, the teams were tied at 19 apiece until the Dragons pulled away by outscoring Reardan 6-1 to win the set 25-20.

The Screaming Eagles recaptured their mojo in the fourth set.

Fueled by two serving aces from Sprecher, one ace by sophomore Lillie Whitman and two kills by junior Kelsy Koch, Reardan went on an 8-0 run that gave them a 14-4 lead. From there, they cruised to a 25-12 win to set up the decisive fifth set.

In the last set, St. George's took a 3-1 lead. After kill shots by Sprecher and sophomore Raegan Soliday and a serving ace by sophomore Marrin Landreth, Reardan tied the score 4-4. Reardan crept ahead 8-7 on two kill shots by Sprecher and one by Koch. The teams were tied at 10 but kills by Clouse and Whitman helped seal the 15-13 win to secure the match for Reardan.

Sprecher and Clouse each recorded 10 kills to lead the Screaming Eagles. Olivia Wicks served six aces and Whitman notched 33 assists and seven kills.

"I feel like there were a lot of ups and downs but overall, if you take out the two middle sets, I feel like we did a pretty good job," Whitman said. "I think we lost confidence, but we were able to regain it in the last two sets."

Whitman said that the key to winning was their energy, their enthusiasm and celebration of every point.

"In the fifth set we had a will to win." Whitman said.

Reardan head coach Elise McCammonds credited her team for not giving up after losing the middle sets.

"I think the girls fought really hard. Kaylynn (Clouse) did a great job in the middle. She had great energy and played with aggressiveness," she said. "I was pleased with our serve receive but we need to improve on our hitting."

The win improved Reardan's record to 9-5. The loss dropped St. George's to 0-11.