Wynford bests Colonel Crawford in straight sets

• The Royals were led by sophomore Gabby Grove and senior Rhieannae Cory’s 14 serving points
• Colonel Crawford got 12 serving points from junior Samantha Mutchler
• Jenna Siegel led all players with 10 kills.
• Alyssa Harrer had sevin kills and 10 blocks

HOLMES TOWNSHIP – The Wynford Royals were the queens of the night on Tuesday evening at Wynford High School. They took on the Colonel Crawford Eagles in a Northern 10 Conference volleyball match that saw the Royals win in three sets.

The Royals ran away with Game 1 25-15 but struggled in Game 2. Wynford head coach Chelsea Keegan had a very vocal timeout that seemed to bring her team back to focus.

“We did very well in Game 1 and executed our offense very well and then Game 2 we let off the gas a little bit. I called the timeout and tried to light a fire under them because I needed them to play better and they responded,” Keegan said.

They Royals then dominated Game 3, 25-11, for the win. Wynford owned the night on defense. Colonel Crawford had just seven service points after the first serve. It seemed every Eagles serve would be taken away before any momentum could be gained. Keegan said that is a huge team goal.

“Volleyball is a game of momentum. We try to limit each server to three serves to avoid the other team to gain momentum. Overall it is a huge goal for us to limit serves and when they get more than three serves they kind of take off with that momentum,” Keegan said.

The Eagles carry just two seniors on the floor and start three sophomores. Their youth is translating into some growing pains, but coach Amber Christy knows tough competition will only make them better.

“We are playing with a very young team and when you play a team with five seniors it is tough. We are going to grow and we are looking forward to going through the league a second time,” Christy said.

In a sweep, a coach can dwell on the negatives. But Christy is focused on her team’s effort level.

“They played so hard. They played with a ton of heart and they had a couple of collapses but you are going to have that,” Christy said.

“We will work on not getting down four or five points out of the gate because it is tough for a young team to dig out of that. We will get back in the gym and work hard at practice.”

The Royals were led by sophomore Gabby Grove and senior Rhieannae Cory’s 14 serving points each. Cory also tallied two aces. Senior Maci Cooper had nine and senior Mallory Moore had six. Moore also had seven kills and senior Alyssa Harrer had sevin kills and 10 blocks.

Wynford improves to 2-3 on the young season and opened N10 play with a win and are sitting at 1-0. They will host Carey on Thursday for another N10 match.

Colonel Crawford got 12 serving points from junior Samantha Mutchler. No other Eagle tallied more than three. Sophomore Jenna Siegel led all players with 10 kills.

The Eagles drop to 0-4 on the year and 0-2 in the N10. They host Seneca East on Thursday in search of their first win.

jfurr@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JakeFurr11