The Mathews High School varsity volleyball team added another regular season win with a victory over the visiting Rappahannock Raiders last Thursday. Over the weekend, the Lady Devils went 4-1 in the Endless Summer Tournament, and on Tuesday, the girls added another regular game win, this time against Lancaster.
Rappahannock game
Although they started the initial set rather sluggish and sloppy, the Mathews team proved to be much stronger and deeper than the Raiders, winning the match in three straight sets by scores of 25-20, 25-8, and 25-8 while utilizing all 15 players on their roster.
Kai McCann led MHS in kills with seven, followed by Mariah Robinson and Stacey Abernathy with five each. Leading in assists was Sophie Bandurco with seven while Madison South and Robinson each had six. Keely Crittenden led the way in digs with eight, South had four, McCann, Robinson and Josey Bauby each added three, and Allison Foster had two while Hallie Duncan, Emily Sorey, and Abernathy had one each. Six players served aces in the match: Foster (four), Bauby (three), South (two), and Morgan Driskell, Robinson, and Duncan (one each).
Endless Summer
The Mathews varsity squad competed in the Endless Summer tournament on Saturady at Virginia Wesleyan College. The Lady Devils’ four victories were good enough for a third-place finish in the gold bracket third overall in the 12-team “white” division. The Lady Devils went undefeated in pool play where they played the best two of three sets per match. They defeated Greenbriar Christian 25-16 and 25-18, Oak Tree 25-14 and 25-17, and Kings Fork 25-18, 18-25 and 15-11
Finishing first in their pool sent them to the gold bracket playoffs where they faced Warwick High School. Mathews began the match strong and confident, decisively winning the first set, 25-12. However, MHS began to struggle in the second set and Warwick eventually came out of top, 25-21, forcing a third set. Both sides fought hard in the final set and Mathews came up short, losing the set, and therefore the match, 15-12. The loss meant that Mathews would not be in the championship game, but instead would play Nandua for third place. Nandua put up a good fight but Mathews won the match in two sets, 25-22 and 25-23, to finish third overall.
Lancaster
The team returned home Tuesday night to host the Lancaster Red Devils. Mathews defeated Lancas-
ter in a three-set match by scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 25-11. McCann and Driskell each had nine kills, Duncan had four, and South and Belle Massimino added three each. Bandurco once again led in assists with 19 while South had 11 and Robinson had five Leading in digs was Crittenden with five, followed by South, Sabrina Barrick and Massimino who had four each. Serving aces in the match were Duncan with four, McCann, South and Barrick each with two, and Crittenden with one. The Lady Devils now hold an overall record of 7-1.
Mathews travel to Northumberland tonight to face the Indians in a rematch of last Tuesday’s high intensity battle in which the Devils came out on top after five hard-fought sets of play. They will then travel to Rappahannock on Monday before returning home to host the Essex Trojans Tuesday night. JV games begin at 6 with varsity immediately following.