Dialog reporter
MILLTOWN – After dropping the first set to St. Mark’s in the teams’ Catholic Conference volleyball match Oct. 25, Padua roared back to win the next two. The Spartans, however, rebounded in the fourth set and was in the lead, 21-16, and the large home crowd geared up for a fifth set.
But Padua had other ideas, and with Emily Jarome on serve the state’s second-ranked team won the final nine points to take the set, 25-16, and the match, 3-1, on Senior Night at St. Mark’s. The Pandas improved to 12-2 with just one match remaining before the state tournament begins next week.
The Spartans’ Erin Derick put her squad ahead by five with a shot off the Pandas’ block. Jarome got that point back with one of her many punishing hits, and she took over the serve with the Pandas down, 21-17. Over the next several minutes, Padua scored on a block by Ella Welsh, two unforced errors, an ace, a kill by Jessica Molen and a smash by Welsh.
With Padua ahead, 23-21, St. Mark’s used a timeout, but that did not derail the Pandas. Jarome served up an ace off the tape out of the timeout, and the match ended on one more unforced error. The Pandas celebrated as they rebounded from Friday night’s loss to Archmere at home.
“We knew we had to work on everything since Friday night, and we still struggled in the beginning, but I think we got our heart back, and we fought for every point,” Welsh said.
Her block may have been the key point during the closing nine-point run.
“We work on blocking all the time, and it gets us really hyped,” she continued. “We’re just working on defense. That’s our main thing. We had so many amazing digs tonight. Taylor (Valletti), who’s our middle, was diving all over the place back there. Maddie (Judge) did so good. I think defense is our main focus on Thursday and in the state tournament.”
St. Mark’s honored its five seniors before the match. Darby Spillan, Madde Caponi, Anna Sonchen, Genevieve Hughes and the injured Sara Desmond were joined by family on the floor, and the Spartans kept the good feelings going with a come-from-behind win in the first set. An eight-point run helped Padua jump out to a 9-3 lead, but the Spartans responded with five straight of their own. Later in the set, St. Mark’s took a 20-19 lead on a service error, and Savannah Seemans put it away with a kill and a block for the win.
The second and third sets were all Padua. In the second, the Pandas received contributions from the entire lineup. Jarome mixed in a few blocks with her ferocious swings. Molen asserted herself midway through with several kills, and Welsh and Emma Lucey scored as well. St. Mark’s fought off four set points, but Valletti – who missed the Archmere match with an injury – ended it with a kill.
It was more of the same in the third as Padua took a big lead early. The Pandas kept their foot on the gas, and the Spartans could only counter the big hitting of Jarome, Welsh, Molen and Claire Bisson for so long. Emma Lucey had the final two points of this set, one when she killed an overpass, the clincher on a nifty back set over the Spartans’ block.
Molen said a multi-pronged offensive attack was needed. “We thought that all the hitters needed to perform well, hit around the block to beat such a strong team like St. Mark’s.”
Jarome led the way with 17 kills, four blocks and 11 digs, while Molen added 15 kills and a pair of blocks. Welsh blocked six to go along with 10 kills. Padua finishes the regular season on Thursday when Ursuline visits for a 7:15 p.m. start. The Pandas will honor their four seniors – Welsh, Valletti, Maddie Judge and Meghan Patterson – before the match.
Molen, nearing the end of her first high school campaign, said she can feel the difference as the playoffs approach.
“It seemed to fly by, but it’s really coming up. I think the playoffs are going to be really fun,” she said.
She senses the intensity building as the tournament grows closer.
“In the beginning of the season, everybody’s at level zero, and now everybody’s up and down. Everybody wants to take you down. Our team obviously has a bulls-eye on our back, and we have to play well to get to where we want to be,” she said.
Hughes finished with 10 kills in her final regular-season home match. Derick and Grace Frati had six each, and Frati and Gillian Lytle paced St. Mark’s with 13 digs apiece. The Spartans fell to 8-5 and are on the road for the final two matches. They travel to Delmar on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. start, and they play the state’s last regular-season contest of 2016 when they meet Ursuline on Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
