Kochie paces Auks in four-set win over Smyrna in volleyball tournament

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Dialog reporter
 
WILMINGTON – Archmere opened the 2017 volleyball season at Smyrna on Sept. 9, going home with a workmanlike 3-0 victory. The Auks defeated Smyrna once again on Nov. 4 in the second round of the state tournament, but this one was much tougher.
It took four sets this time, but the eighth-seeded Auks are moving on after a 3-1 win over the No. 9 Eagles at Salesianum. The Auks won by scores of 24-26, 25-20, 25-17, and 25-18.

Lexi Kelley lays out to get the dig for Archmere. (The Dialog/Mike Lang)

Smyrna served notice of the kind of evening it would be right out of the gate. The Eagles’ front line of Marqueisha and Kenley Cook staked them to a 7-1 lead, but that would not last. Led by Julia Kochie, the Auks fought back to tie it at 8-8 before Smyrna scored four straight to reclaim the lead. The deficit was two, at 20-18, in the Eagles’ favor when the Auks made a run.
Amy Thomson pushed an overpass to the floor, and Lexi Kelly followed with a kill to level the set. The teams were also tied at 21, 22, 23 and 24, but Bennett punished one ball for the 25th Smyrna point, and an unforced error gave the Henlopen North champs the set.
The second set was nip-and-tuck, with the teams tied seven times by the time it reached 10-10. Erin Smallwood stepped up for Smyrna early in that set, throwing up three blocks and adding a kill. Kelly had two blocks and two kills in the same span for the Auks.
They were tied as late as 16-16 before Archmere finally gained some separation. Consecutive kills by Jade Bryant prompted a Smyrna timeout, and after Smallwood went off the tape for the Eagles, the Auks added the next three. Kochie punched one to send it to set point, and Nicki Kelly ended it by going down the middle.
Lauren Edmiston (left) and Nicki Kelley attempt to block this Smyrna shot. (The Dialog/Mike Lang)

Archmere built a 11-2 lead to open the third, but a few minutes later it was a contest. It took a Thomson kill to end the Eagles’ 7-0 run. Bennett went down the middle on a kill to bring Smyrna to within two at 15-13, but the Auks responded with Lexi Kelly going off the block and Kochie smashing three kills during a run that put them ahead, 21-14. Kochie would score on one more kill and an ace before the end of the third.
The Eagles had opportunities to win the fourth, opening up a 16-9 lead on a five-point run that included two big kills and a block from Bennett. Reece Trabaudo ended the streak with an ace. After an unforced Smyrna error, the Auks picked up points from Thomson and Kochie on a combined block of Bennett, a Lexi Kelly ace, a smash from Kochie, a Kochie block, a tip kill from Kochie and another Lexi Kelly ace. The nine-point streak put the Auks in front, 18-16.
Smyrna got one back on a service error, but the Auks then scored six more consecutively. Three of those were Kochie blasts, and Sydney Niumataiwalu snuck in an ace, and after the Eagles fought off one match point, Kochie knocked one off the block.
“I think we really played as a team at the end. We really brought it together. Our energy got really high, and it just all came together. It was more fun, and we just played so much better,” Kochie said.
Julia Kochie did a lot of everything for the Auks on Saturday, including going all out for digs. (The Dialog/Mike Lang)

Final statistics were not available late Saturday night. The Auks improved to 11-5 and will meet top-seeded Padua in the second quarterfinal-round match Tuesday at the St. E Center. It will be a rematch of a match played Oct. 20, a Pandas sweep.
“They’re a very good team,” Kochie said. “They have really great defense. I think we need to block. Our defense needs to be on, and if we do that, we’ll play a good game.”
The Eagles’ season concluded at 11-6.