Sports
Plymouth Whitemarsh Volleyball Spikes Wissahickon
The Lady Colonials took three straight from the visiting Trojans.
Despite an admittedly lackluster performance, set down Wissahickon 25-23, 25-15, and 25-17 Tuesday evening on their home court.
IN SHORT
With a 24-17 lead in the third and deciding game of Tuesday's meet against the visiting Trojans, Plymouth Whitemarsh senior Monica McLenigan's serve skimmed the top of the net before ricocheting onto an unoccupied portion of the visitor's half of the court for the ace and the win. For the Lady Colonials, the final point was emblematic of the effort: it wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.
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Less than 24 hours after falling just short against defending state runner-up Upper Merion, the Lady Colonials got an uneven performance against a Wissahickon team they expected to beat handily.
Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Mike Nguyen pinpointed mental lapses, poor defensive reads, and erratic serves as the source of his team's problems.
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"[In the third game] half of Wissahickon's points came from miss-serves," said the third year coach.
Despite the disappointing performance, the Colonials seemed to strengthen as the meet went on: while they squeaked out a 25-23 victory in the first game and fell behind 7-1 to start the second, they rallied to score 18 of the final 26 in game two and never trailed in coasting to the sweep in the third game.
COLONIAL OF THE GAME
Gigi Jenkins—The powerful Jenkins had a handful of spikes that were borderline unreturnable, but she also suffered from the accuracy issues that riddled her other teammates. Miscues aside, she was the most dynamic player on the court Tuesday.
OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES
Liz Keefer—The tall and self-possessed Keefer dominated net play, stifling the Trojans with a handful of blocks and also contributing a several spikes. Like Jenkins though, she struggled to serve.
Michele Taunton—The junior misplayed a few balls by net, but was active all afternoon for the Lady Colonials.
COACH'S TAKE
"I think we were just unfocused. It wasn't physical, it was a mental thing. We've had a busy last few weeks"—Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Mike Nguyen, on the unsatisfying win
THEY SAID IT
"We played much better last night. It was a loss, but we were better defensively. You almost wouldn't have recognized us."—Nguyen, comparing Tuesday's victory to Wednesday's loss
UP NEXT—The Colonials travel to Norristown on Sept. 22
