Gators break through for first win of season

The VPCC women's volleyball team earned its first victory of the season with a 25-14, 25-23, 25-20 sweep of Mid-Atlantic Christian University on Sept. 3 at the Boo Williams Sportsplex.

Ashleigh Yost (Smithfield HS) had 14 kills and seven digs for the Gators, followed by Kingsleigh Guinn (Kecoughtan HS) with eight kills and eight digs. Berkeley Stenger (Peninsula Catholic HS) added 31 assists and 10 digs.

"We played great the first set, did not the second and third," said coach Tommy Thomas.

The Gators never trailed in the first set and used a 10-1 run for an 11-2 lead. They stretched the advantage to 18-7 and eventually closed out the set on their second set point.

In the second set, it started out much the same as the Gators took leads of 10-3 and 20-13. However, a late charge by the Mustangs made it close before the Gators put it away on their seventh set point on a kill from Maddie Mahone.

A slow start to the third set put the Gators behind 8-5, but they took the lead for good at 11-10 and stretched it to 18-13, forcing MACU to call a timeout. A 23-17 lead dwindled to three but the Gators scored two consecutive points coming out of a timeout for the win.

"Too many unforced errors on us," Thomas said of his team's struggles after the first set. "We gave them a lot of points, a whole lot of points."

He pointed to 16 service errors.

"That's way too many," he said.

However, he was pleased with the overall performance.

"They all played well," he said.