For The Dialog
MILLTOWN — St. Mark’s used a balanced attack and scoring runs at key points to upend Delaware Military Academy, 3-1, in nonconference volleyball action Oct. 11. Set scores were 25-22, 21-25, 27-25 and 25-23.
The match was all about runs, and the team that had the lead at the beginning of each set lost. The first set started with No. 3 DMA jumping out to a 14-9 lead, with five different Seahawks contributing kills.
Genevieve Hughes helped lead the sixth-ranked Spartans’ comeback, as a kill cut the deficit to 21-18. St. Mark’s scored the last seven points of the set behind two aces from freshman Savannah Seemans and a kill from junior Erin Derick.
The Spartans started out hot in the second set and led, 9-2, as several players pitched in to the hitting attack. But the Seahawks’ Victoria Taylor took over, finding open spots in the Spartans’ defense; back-to-back kills gave DMA a 21-29 lead. Sydney Fulton ended the set with a powerful kill to even the match.
It was DMA’s turn to jump out in front in the third set, this time at 14-6, only to see the Spartans score the next eight points. Sara Desmond had two aces in that span to help her team forge a tie. The teams went back and forth from there until Gillian Lytle nailed a great kill to give St. Mark’s the set.
The fourth set began with the Seahawks scoring the first seven points in an attempt to even the match. But the Spartans slowly chopped away at the lead with kills from Hughes, Derick and Seemans, and they tied things at 17. Again, the teams traded points until Hughes gave St. Mark’s a 24-23 advantage with another kill. Derick then gave the Spartans the win with one final kill, this one not a blast but a nicely placed tip.
Derick said that was not her plan.
“I wanted to go up and smack it but I didn’ t catch it,” she said. “It was really scary for me because I was like, ‘Oh no I just gave them another point,’ but I knew my team was rallying for me, and I heard them cheering and I turned around and we got the point.”
The Spartans have lost three tough matches this year: a four-setter to No. 2 Padua and five-setters to top-ranked Archmere and No. 4 Ursuline. Hughes said the win over DMA was very important for the Spartans.
“We believe in each other, and this win was huge for us to show that we can beat the top teams,” she said.
Derick had 14 kills and 25 assists to pace the Spartans. Seemans added 13 kills and 16 assists, while Grace Frati had 10 kills and 17 digs. The Spartans (6-3) travel to Wilmington Charter on Friday for a 5 p.m. match.
Statistics were not available for the Seahawks (4-4), who travel to Appoquinimink on Thursday for a 5:45 p.m. match.
