MINERSVILLE — After one set of Tuesday’s Schuylkill League Division IV first-place matchup, it appeared Nativity and Minersville might be in for a long night.
But it didn’t happen.
Long service runs by the Green Wave enabled Nativity to come away with a 25-22, 25-13, 25-10 victory over Minersville.
“We lit a fire coming out of Game 1 coming into Game 2, and I thought all of our people, the entire team, stepped up,” Nativity head coach Jennifer Daubert said.
With the win, Nativity (12-1, 12-0 D-IV) can clinch its second straight Division IV championship with one win in its final three matches or one more Minersville loss.
Minersville (13-2, 10-2) hadn’t lost since a 25-8, 25-14, 25-20 sweep by Nativity on Sept. 10, but the Battlin’ Miners’ 12-match winning streak ground to a halt in Tuesday’s matchup of District 11 Class A tournament qualifiers.
“They were the better team tonight. We were back on our heels, and we just couldn’t pass,” Minersville head coach Kenton Martin said.
Minersville did rally several times in the first set. Trailing 12-7, the Miners eventually rallied to tie at 17-17. Four more ties followed, including the final one at 22-22.
Errant passing that led to four hits by Minersville allowed Nativity to win the next point and put Emily Yordy at the service line. She served the final two points, both kills by Ashley Strausser.
Both kills were assisted by freshman Luca Walborn, who drew praise from Daubert after she replaced starting setter Noelle Steele.
Walborn posted nine assists in that set before Steele returned to finish the match with 20.
“In Game 1, even if we’re struggling a little bit, we can go to the bench and we have some people that can come in, step up and do what they need to do,” Daubert said. “We’re not going to fall apart when we have a close game, so that was a really good test for us.”
Yordy’s two service points at the end of the first set were a precursor to the next two sets. Steele was the server who found success to begin the second set.
Serving seven points, including an ace, Steele used kills by Cecilia DiNicola and Jocelyn Holobetz and three errors by Minersville to launch the Green Wave to an 8-1 lead.
Minersville battled back within three points at 10-7, but a kill by Strausser, one of her eight in the match, gave the serve back to Nativity and Yordy. Helped by one of Steele’s four kills in the match, the Green Wave tallied the next five points for a 16-7 edge en route to the 25-13 win.
“They serve tough, definitely. They’re a good serving team. They put pressure on you that way,” Martin said.
Two more service runs enabled Nativity to erase a 1-0 deficit and to control the third set.
After the tying point was awarded for net contact by Minersville, Strausser served four straight points, all scored on Minersville hitting and passing mistakes, to put the Green Wave ahead 5-1.
Then, with a 14-6 lead, Nativity again turned to Yordy to serve. The ensuing run featured three aces and kills by Strausser, Shannon Reiley and Steele. By the time Minersville won a point, Nativity led 24-6.
Minersville scored the next three points, including an ace by Alexis Huntzinger, before Steele hit the match-clinching kill.
“I think, especially by Game 3, that we wore them down a little bit, especially (libero) Meg Schwalm,” Daubert said. “They gave everything they had, especially in Game 1.”
Holobetz led the Green Wave with 13 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Strausser added nine digs while Carley Lionetto had 13. DiNicola had six kills while Steele posted six digs and Yordy added three kills and three digs.
Reiley Lonergan and Emily Bartashus each had three kills for the Miners.
“We’ll get into the gym tomorrow night and we’ll keep working,” Martin said. “There’s plenty of things to work on, and we’ll keep improving.”
Nativity won the junior varsity match 2-1.