–Sugar Jets pound Hilltoppers to advance to third round
24 October 2007CANDLER - October 22, 2007 - The Enka Sugar Jets, behind the frontline play of Rachel Olivo and Lauren Hall, dispatched of the R S Central Lady Hilltoppers on Tuesday night, 3-0. The Sugar Jets won 25-16, 25-10 and 25-9. This sets up a battle between two #1 seeds. Enka (21-1) travels to Hickory to play Fred T Foard (22-3) which should be a classic showdown which could come down to a fifth set tiebreaker.
This will be a rematch of the Tigers 3-0 victory in 2005. The Tigers went on to win the 3-A State Championship.
"The last time we met, they beat us three straight," said Enka’s Sue Moon. It was like running into a buzzsaw and they have two front line people that can hurt you. They have a good program and we’ll have to be at our best if we are going to win.
Some of the Enka players were late in getting to the game and it showed in the first game. The legs weren’t there and the passes weren’t hitting their marks, but the Sugar Jets still took four of the first five points. R S Central then scord five straight and the game stayed close until Norton had her run.
"We didn’t play like we should of in the first game," said Enka’s Sue Moon. "we couldn’t pass. The biggest adjustment from game one to games 2 & 3 was the confidence we got in our passing game. We had to change our state of mind and get prepared to play every play. The results speak for themselves."
Stefanie Norton was also outstanding as she served six straight points in the first game to break open a tight game. Enka was ahead 13-12 and Olivo had slammed down a kill to go up by two. Norton then reeled off three aces out of the next six serves to go up 20-12. Hall finished the first game with a crushing kill down the left side of the court.
"We found our rhythm and finally got into a groove," said Norton. "We got a lot of aces tonight, our front line did a great job on the kills and our defense played well."
In the second game, Enka jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back. They had eight kills the rest of the game as Olivo had five, Katie Dawson had two and Hall slammed home her second game winner to take a 25-10 win.
"In the second game we got our state of mind right," said Olivo. "We weren’t focused in the first and got that way in the second and third. We have to maintain our focus because it gets harder every game."
Libero, Kirstie Hyatt, had 15 service points, including three aces and was all over the court, ending up with five digs.
"It took awhile for us to get flowing in the first half," said Hyatt. "but once we did, it was great. It’s nice to get a blow-out in the second round. This year though, you never know what seeds are going to do. You can be a 3 or 4 seed and still knock of a high seed."
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
