For The Dialog
WILMINGTON – The young Ursuline volleyball team sent its seniors out with a win on Oct. 29 against St. Mark’s. The Raiders took the match in a sweep, 25-18, 25-16 and 25-17.
Fourth-ranked Ursuline jumped out early in the first set as Sam Davis had a kill and an ace to stake them to an 8-3 advantage. Corinne Furey then took over with a run of three kills to increase the lead to 14-6. Genevieve Hughes capped a St. Mark’s run that cut the deficit to 16-13, but Ursuline ended the set on a 9-5 run with a Cassidy Markel kill.
It was the Raiders again as the second set began, with Taylor Wright contributing three kills as they went ahead, 9-3. Markel then served up a pair of aces, and Wright added two kills to extend that to 19-9. Morgan Blasetto, the setter, finished the set with a surprise flip over the net on a second hit.
The Spartans, ranked sixth in the state, came out on fire in the third behind kills by Savannah Seemans and Erin Derick. They led, 15-9, but that is when the Raiders took over. A Wright kill and four more aces from Markel sparked a 9-0 run. They pulled away and held on for the sweep.
Ursuline got 15 kills each from Wright and Furey, while Markel had seven aces and 13 digs. The Raiders finished the regular season 11-4 and earned a first-round bye in the state tournament, in which they are the sixth seed. They open play in the second round on Saturday against the winner of Delmar vs. St. Thomas More. Hughes finished with seven kills for the Spartans, who closed the season at 9-6. They are the tourney’s fifth seed and also got a bye in the first round. St. Mark’s will play the winner of the Wilmington Charter vs. Delmarva Christian on Saturday. The times and locations of the second-round matches will be announced later this week.
