WARMINSTER, PA – The Archbishop Carroll Patriots girls’ volleyball team defeated the Archbishop Wood Vikings in an away, quick three game series. The first game the Patriots crushed the Vikings 25-8. The second game they took them by storm again with a 25-12 defeat followed by the third and final game with a score of 25-13.
“We play very good volleyball and the thing with my team is their consistency, keeping at that energy. This is the first match that we’ve played at that energy the whole time. That’s what we’ve been preparing for,” said Carroll’s head coach Brian McCann.
Wood did not go down without a fight as many of the girls had multiple kill attempts and digs but it just was not enough to stop the intensity of the Patriots.
Carroll defeats Wood in three straight sets in PCL regular season championship rematch - photo by Francesca Rossillo
“We had scouted Carroll when they played against Radnor, and knew very well from their record and stats that they were by far the strongest team that we would play in the PCL (Philadelphia Catholic League). Our players were very excited to play Carroll, and anticipated being more competitive with Carroll on [Tuesday],” said Archbishop Wood head coach Maureen Thorpe.
Carroll played tough the entire game and never let their energy go. They had 41 total kills and 26 digs as a team. Senior Hannah Wright was the star of the show with 31 kills against the Vikings. Freshman Paige Monastero had eight kills and five digs.
“This win means a lot to my team because we’ve worked really hard this past year, just training in the on-season and off-season. Because I think we came out so strong, we had a fire under our butts that just really motivated us because we lost to them in the championship match last year,” Wright said.
Carroll's Hannah Wright talks about the importance of this PCL victory
As a very much-anticipated game, Wood prepared for the Patriots and knew that they had to improve their game before the matchup.
“We did come in with a plan to transition from defense to offense more quickly, and to try and take Carroll out of system a little more consistently. We also knew that we needed to serve tough. Carroll has great serve receivers, and their libero doesn't let anything touch the floor,” Thorpe said.
Interestingly enough, McCann was Wood’s head coach two years ago so he has coached some of the very girls his team played against and said that it was nice to see how they’ve grown since then.
The Vikings standout players were all members of the back row. Wood missed nine serves throughout the three sets, which put them back but that did not allow them to be discouraged.
“Our team came into the match with great anticipation, and to be more competitive with Carroll, we needed to execute our offense and make sure we served tough. Our back row of Noelle Sheridan, Shauna Matthews, and Erin Martin were extremely busy on defense, digging Carroll's hitters,” Thorpe said. “The sheer joy of playing defense was very evident during the match along with the crowd cheering them on. Carroll's offense, however, was unstoppable, and we were unable to mount an offense.”
Matthews had seven digs, 38 kill attempts and 5 kills. Martin followed with six digs and Sheridan with five. Junior Molly Prior had 15 kill attempts with two kills and junior Sam Link had nine kill attempts and three kills.
“We will learn from this. There was great hustle from both teams and we will do better from this [loss],” Matthews said.
The Vikings are not giving up just yet and will head into the remainder of their league games with the same winning mindset.
“After every game, we ask the team the same things; what worked, what didn't, and how can we improve. Communication is always key and finding joy in the game,” Thorpe said.
