Somers Sweeps into the Second Round

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On Friday November 1, Somers opened the sectionals at home and facing the 14th seed probably meant an easy afternoon. A pretty straight forward assumption, the bracket positions didn’t lie, but the three set sweep still produced some drama.

On the strength of two Julia Nelson aces, a kill and a block, Hen Hud refused to go away in game two. 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23, Somers was in no mood to oblige either. The Tuskers put the game away on an Alex Googel kill, an off speed spike by Katlyn Kourakos and a final serve into the net by Hen Hud.

The first game also started close but not for long. Aside from an Adrianna Adelmann kill, both teams erred their way to a 3-3 game.

Hen Hud didn’t not self correct, though, and the miscues opened up a 7-4 lead. Maren Kellock then added a back row kill, and Gianna Morales dropped a dink to extend the advantage to five.

Isabel Gurgigno did interrupt the bleeding when she dinked a tight set for a 10-5 game, but the Sailors reopened their own wound. A net call and an errant bump was added to a Googel kill and the game stood at 13-5.

A kill, a dink and Somers error tallied three straight for Hen Hud, so the elephants officially got into the swing of things. After Nelson served into the net, Morales slammed down three in a row for an 18-9 lead.

Kate Stratton’s kill interrupted the run, and in need of another reset, Somers went back to front. Two tough digs by Kourakos and a diving one by Katie Coughlin put Hen Hud on the clock. Tick, Tick, Boom, Kellock put the point away, and the JV let out the orchestrated chant in celebration. “We started that last year,” said Emma Barton. “Like a big kill, it gets everyone cranked up.”

From there, Somers pulled away, and a diving dig by Adelmann teed up Claire Cronin for the finishing touch. Hen Hud bumped Adelmann’s ground game right back over, and Cronin knocked down the 25-13 win.

Up 1-0, Somers seemed to have a pretty good handle. That is until several Tusker errors, and a pair of Elizabeth Marafioti aces had the favorites trailing 6-2.

Of course, Somers didn’t shrink. Adelmann and Googel killed and blocked the Tuskers back into a 6-6 tie.

Now it was Hen Hud’s turn. Nelson registered another kill, and the front line of Harleigh Corcoran and Shelby Johnson doubled walled three blocks. Putting Somers off balance, Kellock hit into the net, and the 11-6 deficit had Coach Pittman calling for time.

On reset, Adelmann knocked down a back set, served up an ace and Morales didn’t waste any hits either. An errant Hen Hud bump sailed long and substituted for a perfect set.

The game was then tied at 11 on a missed Hen Hud spike, but now the Sailors refused to sink. Nelson killed from the back row, Corcoran let fly from the center, and on defense, she denied Morales’ spike.

The 14-12 advantage didn’t last, though. Hen Hud gave it back with a serve and spike into the net. All tied, Somers obliged with a long serve of their own, and Hen Hud took a two point lead on another Nelson kill and a long hit by Kellock.

No problem, the Con Ed Award winner had plenty of electricity on reserve. She answered with two kills and turned a long Hen Hud bump into another one off at the net.

A 19-17 lead for Somers still didn’t let the elephants wag their tails. Stratton killed from the center, Corcoran dropped a second ball dink on a tight set, and Annabel Delgado’s play off the roof turned into a kill for Gurgigno.

Add in the two aces by Nelson, and Somers had to regroup. Tick, Tick Boom, Googel answered the call first, and that set Kourakos up to slickly top spin her slow ball to the ground.

The 24-22 lead had Somers on the precipice. Even so, Nelson wasn’t hearing it and connected from the back row again. Unfortunately for Hen Hud, the gallant try went down with the ship when the subsequent serve settled in the net.

A 5-0 third set lead was next. Somers cruised from there, and the girls are looking forward to the next round on Monday.