Magill, Huntsmen storm past 'Streaks

• Behind strong play from Rikki Magill%2C Huntington swept Piketon%2C Tuesday%3B 25-17%2C 25-14 and 25-15.
• The Huntsmen improve to 3-1 while the Redstreaks drop to 1-1 after one night of SVC play.

CHILLICOTHE – Huntington's janitor wasn't the only one using a broom Tuesday night.

On the opening night of Scioto Valley Conference volleyball play, the Huntsmen did their fair share of sweeping, beating Piketon 25-17, 25-14 and 25-15.

"I was a little nervous coming into tonight," Huntington coach Tina Magill said. "We have played a lot of strong teams over the course of this past summer. So I think we came into league play a bit more prepared this year. It also made the tempo of our game a little bit stronger."

The Redstreaks had all sorts of problems dealing with Huntington's Rikki Magill at the serving line all night long. Magill, who used a terrific jump serve, came up especially huge in the first two sets.

"Two years ago, Rikki had the most aces inside the entire SVC," coach Magill said. "Last year, she had a difficult time because of shin splints. This year, she's healthy and we're seeing the same pattern that we saw two years ago. And I think she's spot serving as well where before she didn't have much control. That says a lot about a player when they can jump serve with power and get it where they want it to go."

On the opposite side of the net, the Huntsmen (3-1, 1-0 SVC) held the Redstreaks' Cami Chandler in check — sticking to their game plan to keep the ball away from her.

"Sometimes it's not necessarily who we're keeping it a

way from as much as who we're hitting it to," coach Magill said. "But when our opponent has a great player like (Chandler), we do our best to move our sets to a different angle so that she's not going to have as many opportunities."

In the first set, Piketon (1-1, 0-1 SVC) dug a 15-8 hole before battling back with a 6-0 run to cut the Huntsmen lead to 15-14. However, Huntington then took a 19-16 lead and sent Magill to the serving line before taking the set, 25-17.

With scored tied at 12 in the second, Huntington went on a 13-2 run to win, 25-14, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third, it was unfortunately more of the same for the Redstreaks, who struggled to put any type of offensive rhythm together. They would drop the set, 25-15, and the match, 3-0.

Even with the sweep, coach Magill feels as if her team has some things to work on.

"With our hard serves, Piketon over passed a few times," she said. "And Dylana (Gragg), Kennedy (Debord) and Kayla (Hopkins) did a great job controlling the net with tight and over passed balls. The weakest part of our defense was getting our shoulders forward and pushing our passes to our targets. We're still setting too many balls from the backside. But I'm extremely pleased with tonight's outcome."

Magill led her Huntsmen with 11 digs, nine kills, 15 points serving, four aces and nine assists. Gragg added 10 digs, 15 kills, three blocks and 10 assists. Carolane Cox finished with 14 digs and six kills.

For Piketon, Emily Legg had six kills and three blocks while Chandler and Erykah Scott both had four kills apiece.

Both teams will be back in action, Thursday, as Piketon hosts Adena and Huntington travels to Unioto.

"We played (Unioto) during the summer," coach Magill said. "Even though they didn't hit as hard as we did, they were very smart players. They know how to hit the holes and they work their offense really well to their advantage. They keep you on your toes."

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509