Rally scoring is fine in volleyball. Either team can win the point on every ball served.
But keeping the serve is still one of the most important aspects to the game of volleyball. With the serve, a team can string points together.
Allen County Community College’s Red Devils did string points together in dominating back-to-back wins in the first two sets of Wednesday’s home match. Then came the seven-minute break.
Momentum shifted that quick. The Red Devils only needed one more set win to beat visiting Fort Scott Community College.
They didn’t get it. The Greyhounds controlled sets three and four forcing a deciding fifth set. To win the fifth set, a team needs to reach 15.
Allen County and Fort Scott were locked in a side-out war most the fifth set. It appeared that the momentum swung back the Red Devils’ way with a thunderous kill shot by Makhala Giardina.
Giardina’s hit put the Red Devils up 8-6 as the teams switched sides in the middle of the set. It put the serve in Allen County’s hands.
Jacqui Ortiz served and Jordyne Siechepine came up with a kill. The Red Devils were six points away from winning.
Back came the Greyhounds to tie it at 9-9. Allen County reached a 12-9 lead with the serve but again gave it up.
The Red Devils never led again. The set was tied three more times. Allen County had the serve at 15-all but had a service error.
With a one-point lead, serving match point, Fort Scott put down a resounding kill to take the Jayhawk Eastern Division match.
Fort Scott won 10-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-15.
“We found the start we keep practicing for with a huge 25-10 win in set 1. We had eight service aces in that set and used pressure out of all areas on the court,” said Jessica Peters, ACCC head coach.
“We had blocks, defense and offense. We were allowing Fort Scott to make the mistakes.”
Leading 3-2, Allen County’s Sabrina Stanley served eight consecutive points. In the second set, Stanley had a seven-point run to put Allen County up 8-1.
After the seven-minute break, the only thing Allen County seemed to string together was unforced errors. Peters said the consecutive missed serves killed the Red Devils’ efforts everywhere else on the court.
“We just couldn’t bounce back from simple mistakes. The balls were sailing out on service errors,” Peters said. “We created enough chaos for Fort Scott that they were forces to tip and roll a majority of the night but when we were not picking this up and turning it into something, again the efforts were a wash.”
The Greyhounds got a lot of “tape balls” to drop for them in the final three sets. That is when the volleyball hits the top of the net, rolls down the tape and drops on the other side.
Stanley finished with 18 service points and she had seven ace serves. Ortiz served up 10 points and had one ace while Alisha Keith had nine service points and one ace.
Randi Billings served up five points and had two aces and Giardina had four points and one ace. Alli Jenicke served for three points and had one ace. Nicole Reed had two points and Hayley Mertens had one service point.
At the net, Jenicke delivered 15 kills plus had one solo block and three assisted blocks. Giardina had 14 kills.
Seichepine put down nine kills and made three solo blocks and three assisted blocks. Mertens had four kills. Kaitlyn Speer had one solo block and one assisted block. Billings was credited with five assisted blocks.
Ortiz had 21 set assists and Keith made 12 set assists. Stanley led the team with 28 digs and Jenicke had 23 digs.
Giardina and Reed each came up with 13 digs. Ortiz had 12 digs.
The Red Devils took their first loss in Jayhawk East play and are 2-1. They are 6-6 overall.
Fort Scott improved to 2-2 in conference action and 10-4 overall.
“We’re ready for our next conference opportunity,” Peters said.
But that has to wait. Allen County travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend for a tournament at Air Force.
Next Wednesday, the Red Devils go to Highland Community College in conference play.
Red Devils lose heartbreaker
