The Heritage Academy volleyball team finally could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
After splitting four sets Tuesday against Pillow Academy, the Patriots didn’t take a lead in the fifth until it was 13-12. And with the huge momentum swings that marked the match, those last two points were not guaranteed.
So Elizabeth Nichols and Lucy Sharp guaranteed them.
First, Nichols got the home crowd roaring with a strong block to put the Patriots one point away from victory. Then Sharp, who served the last four points of the night, nailed a sharp serve toward the Mustangs’ back line that could not be handled. And when the ball went backward toward the gym wall, the Patriots had a wild 16-25, 25-10, 25-15, 17-25, 15-12 victory, their first after two losses.
Although the serve was a rocket, Sharp said she wasn’t trying to do anything special needing one last point.
“I was just thinking, get the ball over and in so we can win,” the junior said. “We really needed a win, we had lost two, this was our first home game. Our energy was up and I was really nervous, but I was just trying just to get it in.”
The victory was also the first for new Heritage coach Tori Brooks, whose primary task Tuesday was keeping her team from getting caught up in the highs and lows of the seesaw affair.
“I just told them to calm down, pull themselves together and just get the ball in the court,” Brooks said. “Don’t start freaking out, then you’re going to make stupid mistakes. If you start freaking out, your body’s going to get tense and you’re going to hit it as hard as you can, and it’s not going to go in the court.”
As the set scores show, the teams took turns looking really, really good and really, really bad. But the one constant for the Patriots was their serving. Throughout the match, their serves were more consistent than Pillow’s.
“That’s one of the main things we work on, because that’s the start of every point,” Brooks said. “Even if we’re scrimmaging each other, all of my girls will have to serve.”
Brooks singled out Nichols and Meg Rodgers for their serving. Rodgers served to open the second set as Heritage took a 4-0 lead, while Nichols took the ball with a 6-3 edge and handed it back when it was 11-4.
For kills, Brooks had praise for Nichols and Taylor Wheeler. Wheeler had a block and a kill on consecutive points during the final set to highlight her night, while Nichols had a kill and that decisive block during the five-point run that closed out the match.
As for digs, Brooks pointed to libero Mallory Ward. Ward did the bulk of the receiving of serve for the Patriots, providing a steady start to point after point.
“Overall, I think they all did really good,” Brooks said.
Sharp said the team was equipped to handle the wild momentum swings without getting overwhelmed.
“We try and keep our confidence up and cheer each other on, pat each other on the back, say it’s OK, we got it, keep your head up,” she said. “We’ll correct each other here and there so we’ll know for next time.”
That could be part of the growth Brooks says she has seen during the short time she has been coaching.
“I’ve seen so much growth since I’ve been here,” said Brooks, a former standout at Caledonia. “At first it seemed like they were kind of iffy, do they want to play. But they came up here and practiced on their own, they’re diving everywhere, they’re hustling. It just looks like they want to be here.”
Even if they need five sets to get the job done.
“I’d much rather just have an easy win, but this is fun because it challenges us so we can get better,” Sharp said.
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