1A girls volleyball: Strong serving key for Parkview Christian in win over Earlville

SERENA – There are many factors that make up a winning formula in the game of volleyball.

In Monday’s Class 1A Serena Regional quarterfinals, No. 9-seeded Parkview Christian used a combination of solid serving and hard hitting to post a 25-20, 25-14 victory over No. 11-seeded Earlville on Al Stegman Court.

The Falcons, who improved to 13-14, advance to play top-seeded Newark at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The Red Raiders finish the season at 12-20.

“We had great communication as well, probably the best we’ve had all season. The good serving and talking were the big things for us tonight.”

—  Kendra Mersman, Parkview Christian sophomore

“I thought we did a great job with our hitting,” Parkview Christian coach Kristen Mathre said. “We hit hard, no tips, no free balls, we just hit strong. We wanted to make sure we made Earlville earn their points, and I feel like we did that. This was really one of our best all-around matches we’ve played this season. Along with our hitting, I thought we served well, we did a pretty good job with our blocking, and we played a nice defensive match.

“We are going to have to do what we did tonight again on Wednesday, as well. A team like Newark, you just can’t give them free balls, they are just too good and too experienced. We are also going to have to mix up where we hit. [Newark] adjusts very well defensively.”

The Falcons were led in the win by Tehya Knapp (nine kills, eight points), Kendra Mersman (three kills, four aces, 10 points), Abigail Carlyle (three kills, two aces, four points), Brenna Esposito (two kills, three points) and Ruth Oudyn (two kills, three points).

Earlville was paced by Bailey Miller (seven kills), Addison Scherer (two blocks, ace), Elizabeth Vazquez (six points) and Audrey Scherer and Jacey Helgsen with three points each.

[ Photos: Parkview Christian vs. Earlville in the Class 1A Serena volleyball Regional ]

“We had beaten them last week, so they were ready to go right away against us tonight,” Earlville coach Tonya Scherer said. “We started off slow with our serve receive, and I really never felt we ever got on track with it. When you struggle receiving serves, that means our offense is going to struggle because you can never really get into it. Our setters were running all over tonight, and that’s going to cause problems.

“We kind of compounded that with not really hitting well when we did get into our offense. We also weren’t able to stop a few of their runs, and when we did, they’d find a way to put another one together. It was a tough season, but we’ll have everyone back next year ,and hopefully this season’s experience can carry over into next season.”

In the opening set, a six-point run by Mersman that included an ace and two kills by Knapp helped push Parkview Christian out to leads of 7-1 and 9-4. Earlville clawed back to tie the set at 9 on the help of two kills by Miller and another by Addison Scherer. The Falcons then scored the next five points before the squads traded points until a kill by Esposito and a Red Raiders serving error closed out the set.

Parkview Christian also started the second set strong, using back-to-back aces by Mersman and later a kill by Knapp to lead 11-6.

“My main goal is to, obviously, get the ball over the net,” Mersman said with a laugh. “Coach gives us spots she wants us to hit to, and I just try and concentrate on serving the ball to that spot. The key is serving aggressive while also being accurate. It can be tough sometimes to make those two things work together, and we’ve struggled at times this season with that, but I thought we all did a great job of doing that tonight.

“We had great communication as well, probably the best we’ve had all season. The good serving and talking were the big things for us tonight.”

Earlville closed to within 11-8 after a block by Addison Scherer, but Knapp followed a side-out-winning swing with a seven-point serving run to all but close out the set and match.