Girls Volleyball: Ava Knepper, Sandwich show no rust against Ottawa

SANDWICH — The Sandwich volleyball team hadn't played a match in a seven days, but it sure didn't show early inits Interstate Eight Conference match against Ottawa Tuesday night.

Indians senior Ava Knepper served her club out to an eight-point lead to start the match, and another strong streak by classmate Jaylynn Vana helped the hosts easily take the opening set. The Pirates (6-16, 1-6) played much better in the second set, but just couldn't put together an extended scoring run as Sandwich (15-8, 4-3) captured a 25-7, 25-17 homecoming victory in a hot and steamy Sandwich gymnasium.

"We hadn't played in a week, so you never know if your team is going to come out rusty or ready to go. I thought it was good that we got out early and looked well-rested," said Sandwich coach Selynda Kern.

"We have worked on a lot of things the past week in practice, especially our blocking. (Sophomore) Audrey (Rome) and Jaylynn did a great job in the middle for us tonight. I also thought we serve-received very well, and that is what I feel is a great strength of this team. Defensively the girls were in the right spots and made adjustments as the match went on."

Senior Abby Ripsky led the way for the home team with a match-best eight kills, with Vana (six points) and junior Sophia Datoli (four digs) each pounding down four apiece. Knepper passed off for a match-high 23 assists to go along with nine points, while Olive Tornga recorded six digs.

Ottawa was paced by four kills from junior Piper Nanouski and three winning swings by sophomore Olivia Denny. Senior Jenna Nink and junior Marissa Burgwald each served up four points, with Lily Miller registering seven assists.

"We have been battling injuries, illness, and we are young team," said Ottawa coach Jenn Crum, who was missing a trio of starters. "I have a different lineup almost every match, and it makes it tough for the girls to find that fluency of playing together. We currently have two sophomores playing in key spots, and they are making sophomore mistakes, but they will figure it out. I feel we are improving, but like I told the girls, the competition is too.

"Tonight, I don't even know what the first set was for us. The second set we played obviously much better, but we just weren't consistent enough all around until towards the end."

In Sandwich's initial flurry with Knepper at the service line, Datoli and Ripsky each had a pair of kills, while Vana had a kill from the middle and a block. Later with Vana serving, an ace, a block by Rome and two more winners from Ripsky ballooned the score to 17-3. Two aces by Cailyn Brummel highlighted the final points of the set for the Lady Indians.

Ottawa jumped out to a 3-2 advantage in the second set with Nink, Denny and Nanouski finding the open court. A sideout and five-point serving run by Tornga flipped the momentum and gave Sandwich an 8-3 lead.

A right-side kill by Nikki Fahrion and three points from Burgwald closed the gap to 8-7, but three-point runs each by Brummel, Lily Krueger and Lexi Young pushed the Lady Indians ahead 20-10. The teams see-sawed points until back-to-back kills from Vana and Maddy Johnson close out the match.

"We have now played everyone in the conference once," said Kern. "So moving forward, we have an idea of what some of the teams that we haven't played a lot in the past do, and we'll make adjustments against them. We'll just try to keep things going the way they are."