For The Dialog
WILMINGTON – Second-ranked Padua made the short trip to Ursuline on Sept. 22 for a key Catholic Conference volleyball matchup, and the Pandas swept No. 4 Ursuline in front of a packed house. The scores were 25-28, 25-18 and 25-17. Emily Jarome led the Pandas with 13 kills, 13 digs, two aces and a block, and she had plenty of help.
Padua (5-0) jumped on the Raiders early, as Claire Bisson and Jarome had kills to give the Pandas a 5-3 lead. Padua went on a 10-3 run to put the set away, as Jarome and Taylor Valletti each had a pair of kills in that span. Kills by Abigail Rzucidlo and Taylor Wright made the score 20-15, but Padua regained control on an Emma Lucey kill. Then Jarome hammered one home for a 22-15 advantage. Freshman Jess Molen ended the set with an ace, the first of her three for the evening.
“We talked about how important our serve game is and we came out an performed and all in all we did a good job serving,” Molen said.
The second set was back and forth early, until Jarome and Maddie Judge took over. Jarome had a kill and Judge an ace to give the Pandas a 19-16 lead. Valletti ended the set with a kill, and Padua was up, 2-0.
The Pandas used a 9-1 run to take a 13-7 in the third set, with Judge contributing three aces during the stretch. The lead grew to 21-9 on two blocks by Valletti and back-to-back aces by Molen.
The Raiders would not go away, as Samantha Davis provided a veteran defensive touch, and Wright added some kills to cut it to 21-15. Jarome had three kills down the stretch, and Molen ended the evening with another kill.
Valletti discussed the importance of the Pandas’ blocking and defense.
“We know we have to be more aggressive on the net, and I anticipate every ball will come to me and I will throw up the block,” she said.
The win ended a three-match losing streak to Ursuline, which pleased Valletti.
“It felt amazing to end that streak and get the wins back in our favor,” she said.
Judge had 23 digs for the Pandas, who earned their third straight win over a top-five team. They host Newark Charter on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. before visiting Delaware’s top team, Delaware Military Academy, next Thursday.
The Raiders (2-1) got 10 kills from Wright and 12 digs from Davis. They will host Friends on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
