Cape volleyball advances with five-set victory over Dover
For the first time in Cape volleyball history, the Vikings advanced to the second round of the DIAA state tournament, with a 25-18, 13-25, 25-21,16-25 and 15-7 victory over Dover on Nov. 1 at the Caesar Rodney gymnasium.
Down 7-5 in the fifth set, Cape junior setter Abbey Derrickson went to the service line and served 10 straight winning points to pace the Vikings to a 15-7 victory. She ended the match with 17 assists, five digs and two aces.
“I was ready to go,” said Derrickson. “I was ready to finish it off and get through the first round of the playoffs. It was a lot of pressure, but a good pressure because it’s something that I’ve prepared for for as long as I can remember. No matter if it’s game point or the first point of the match, it’s the same serve every time. It’s served me well. We dug deep and we fought for every point we got.”
Sophomore Emily Lamb bumped 27 digs in the match, sophomore Erin Morrissey powered 13 kills and eight digs, junior Teaghan Van Brunt assisted on 19 points and senior Mikiyah Ennals knocked down eight kills. Sophomore Katie Knarr and freshman Rileigh Wilson each had six kills.
“After the fourth set, we were just thinking that we had beaten them once in the fifth set,” Lamb said. “So we definitely could do it again if we just worked hard and leave everything out on the court.”
Cape defeated the Senators 16-14 in the fifth set of its Oct. 18 match in Dover.
In the huddle before the fifth set, the three seniors were confident in their squad.
“We were very determined not to let another ball drop unless it was out,” said an emotional Abby Bucklin.
“Our energy was great the whole time,” Ennals said. “Even though we were down 5-7 in the fifth, we told ourselves we’ve been in this situation before, so we knew we had to come out strong like we did before.”
“The fact that we knew that we could beat them and we were behind, we were determined to leave it out here,” said senior Mackenzie Parker. “We gave it our all. Coach Coupe settled us down.”
“We turned our nerves into determination,” said Bucklin.
“Between the fourth and fifth set, I felt we were under control,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “We put ourselves in pressure situations throughout practice where we are used to pressure constantly being applied to us. So to me, it wasn’t anything different. They worked really hard, and they deserve that mark they are leaving on the program.
“Abbey served awesome. We do pressure serving all the time in those situations, and it’s great to see it happen. We wait for it, we prepare ourselves for it, and to see it live, it’s a great feeling.”
The Cape coach was quick to give kudos to his opponents from Dover.
“Dover’s a really good defensive team,” he said. “They are really strong and big at the net. They are physical and they challenged us in a lot of ways. A lot of credit to them. But our girls prevailed today. It was awesome to see.”
No. 16 Cape will play top-seeded Padua on Saturday, Nov. 3, in the second round of the DIAA tournament at Sallies gymnasium. Game time is 7 p.m.
