Thursday marked the season opener for the Girl’s Volleyball squad for fall of 2015 and it featured a visit by Pennsauken Tech. The Pirates were a little shaky at the start, but rebounded to win the first two sets en route to a 2-0 victory.
“Winning that first game really sets the tone for the season,” head coach Sara Skvir said. “I think it gives the girls a boost of confidence as well.”
The first set was a back and forth affair early on as the Pirates struggled to get into a rhythm. Cinnaminson trailed by as much as four points at 11-7, but rallied to tie the game at 11 on a stretch that saw them score seven consecutive points to take a 14-11 lead that they would not relinquish again.
“It felt really good to get the win,” Senior Captain Christina Strough said. “The first couple points in the first one we were really not on our game. Once we picked it up we felt a lot better. The second one was a lot better too.”
To put the first set out of reach, the Pirates went on an eight-point run to build a 24-15 advantage before eventually pulling out a 25-16 victory.
“We had a pretty hard practice yesterday,” Skvir said. “We didn’t play very well at our last scrimmage so I practiced hard with them. I told them we have to come out strong as a team. They listened and they put it together for the game.”
In the second set, the Pirates did not trail by more than two points at any point. The second set was much closer for a longer length of time, with Cinnaminson and Pennsauken Tech pulling into ties six times before the Pirates could pull away.
Cinnaminson tied the set at nine, took a 10-9 lead, and never looked back en route to a 25-18 win in the second set. The largest lead of the second set for the Pirates was seven and it came four times, including the final score.
“I solidified who my top server is from this game, who I am going to start every game serving with, Gia Trzaska,” Skvir explained. “I give her spots and she hits them 95 percent of the time and she gets us a lot of service points.”
Even with the victory, there is always room for improvement, according to Skvir.
“We are very predictable with our hitters. We hit cross-court consistently, so our hitters need to work on hitting spots, such as hitting down the line and not always hitting right into the big blockers.”
There isn’t much time to relish in the season-opening win as the Pirates return to the court on Friday, September 11 with a game at Moorestown at 5:15pm.
“We play Moorestown tomorrow, which will be fun,” Strough said. “We will be working on our passing a lot this year and hitting. We’re going to have a good season this year and it’s going to be even more fun now that we got this out of the way. We are really going to kill it tomorrow.”
[…] Skvir pointed out after the Pirates first win of the season that she would have Trzaska start each match in the server’s […]