Delmarva Christian opens with 3-0 win over Cape
The Delmarva Christian volleyball team’s confidence and senior leadership showed up royally Sept. 8, as they downed the Vikings 3-0 in the season opener.
The Royals scored 25-22, 25-20 and 25-16 in the match to win their first contest of the season. Gabrielle Book and Camryn Breasure each tallied five kills for the Royals, while Olivia Berger and Ashlyn Stonebraker assisted on 14 and 10 points, respectively. Siera Jones had 11 digs.
The Royals hadn’t defeated the Vikings since 2012, but Royals head coach Jim Berger said he expected this win from his squad.
“In our starting lineup, we have 49 years of volleyball playing experience,” he said. “These girls have been playing year-round for many years, and I think why we are confident is the fact that the girls are confident in each other. We’re finally playing as a team; we’re supporting each other, and it’s making a world of difference. Last year, we had pretty much the same lineup, but we didn’t have that confidence element. We hope to build on that.”
“When we put it all together, when it comes to game time, we really get into the moment,” said senior setter Olivia Berger, who had a run of eight service winners in the third set.
“A lot of the girls played travel over the winter and got a lot better,” said senior outside hitter Gabrielle Book. “That really helped improve our play.”
Cape’s Sophia Spinelli and Maddy Holt knocked down nine and seven kills, respectively, while Logan Shuttleworth assisted on 14 points for the Vikings.
“While I'm disappointed we lost, I'm not disheartened by any stretch,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “We came out with three freshmen starting and were able to go toe to toe with an extremely well-coached team. Our offensive errors don't concern me as much; it's small technique mistakes and better mental awareness. Our serve-receive still isn't what I expect it to be and will continue to be a focal point of our practices this week. I was happy with how many times we forced Delmarva Christian out of system; however, we need to do a better job terminating points when running our free ball offense.”
The Vikings will travel to Smyrna Thursday, Sept. 14.
“Our schedule doesn't allow us time to slow down and wallow,” said Coupe. We have to prepare for a tough Smyrna team.”
The Royals will host Caravel Friday, Sept. 15.
The Cape junior varsity defeated the Royals JV 2-1. The Vikings junior varsity team coached by Pam Coupe consists of Alyssa Whaley, Breahna Kusen, Rebecca Wood, Cameron Baldwin, Erin Morrissey, Jacqueline Johnson, Simran Patel, Sydney Doel, Samantha Messina, Angelica Kusen, Taylor Iacono, Olivia Vanderslice, Charlie Simmons, Madison Mahoney and Raya Mault.
