MARYVILLE – Maryville made quick work of Belhaven. Now the tough sledding begins.
The third-seeded Scots dispatched the visiting sixth-seeded Blazers 3-0 here Tuesday night in the Collegiate Conference of the South Volleyball Tournament Semifinals. Scores were 25-12, 25-22 and 25-16.
Maryville advances to Friday's semifinals against second-seeded Huntingdon, which defeated LaGrange 3-0 Tuesday night. Start time on Lookout Mountain is set for 4 p.m..
"Honestly, tonight was all about confidence and energy," Maryville interim head coach
Brienna Laskowski said. "A lot of our losses have been because of our lack of confidence, our lack of energy. But starting in film this afternoon and into serve and pass, we were on fire and pumped up to play. I'm not sure what got them there, but of course I was happy to see it.
"We told them before the match that today was just another day. We didn't want to put any undue pressure on ourselves, and it showed in how we performed."
Maryville played relaxed throughout the match, hitting in the high .200s in Sets 1 and 3 and finishing at .250 for the evening to Belhaven's .023.
Scots Start Fast
In Set 1, Maryville scored the first five points and never looked back. Allie Smith and
Reese Bailey contributed two early kills apiece and the Scots soon built leads of 9-1, 11-2 and 14-3. Maryville's 13 kills in that opening set were distributed among six players; same for the 13 digs.
Set 2 saw the Scots in front from start to finish, but it was a competitive set. Consecutive kills from Smith and
Landry Frisch helped push the Maryville margin to its largest at 21-12, but then the Scots got sloppy. Five attack errors helped Belhaven pull within 23-21 before Bailey's kill halted the 9-2 Blazers run, and Maryville held on from there.
The third set saw the only tie of the match at 2-2. Maryville responded with a 5-0 run behind a kill from
Cailin Mastropasqua and an
Ashley Hilbelink service ace. The score was still 16-11 when the Scots closed on a 9-5 run. Bailey had two kills and a service ace before
Hannah Kammer ended the match with her fifth kill.
Bailey finished with seven kills and a .778 hitting percentage on nine total attacks. She also led the team with four block assists. Frisch was sharp over her two sets with four kills and a .500 hitting rate before Mastropasqua came on in the third set and was perfect on her four attack chances.
Ally Sokolow contributed 14 digs and
Dakota Vaiese posted 19 assists to 13 for
Ella Reyes. Team blocks favored the Scots 5-2.
Rubber Match for Trip to Finals
Maryville and Huntingdon split their matches during the regular season, each winning on the opposing home floor.
"Huntingdon will be tough," Laskowski said. "It was a battle when we won down there in five sets, but when they beat us in our house, we struggled with that same monster: confidence and energy.
"We are going to have to turn it up one more notch because Huntingdon forces you to do that. They are so gritty, and they make you step up your game or it will be a short evening. We have to play with fire. If we can do that, we will be fine."
