VB: No.25 Spring Hill holds off Carthage
Tuesday night in Bulldog Gymnasium. (Photo by Ray Jackson)
CARTHAGE, Tx – Spring Hill volleyball player Savannah Voelzke showed on Tuesday that sometimes it’s more important to work on the job at hand than to try for something extraordinary.
Voelzke did put some unusually good numbers in helping Spring Hill hold off Carthage, 25-12, 24-26, 25-17, 25-23, in a District 16-3A match here at Bulldog Gymnasium with 18 kills and four blocks. Voelzke had eight kills in the decisive fourth game.
Voelzke’s most important may have been a key stretch of serves. With the score tied 19-19 in game four, Voelzke had three straight service points. Two of the serves led to Carthage return errors and the other one led to a T’Asia Black block for a kill. Carthage did cut the Spring Hill lead to 24-23 before Black ended the match with a dink for a kill.
Despite her numbers, Voelzke said her play wasn’t very good in the first three games and she wanted to close out the match strong, but this didn’t involve something special with the serve.
“I was just trying to get the ball over,” Voelzke said. “I wasn’t trying to serve it any particular place, except away from their libero (Sarah Clakley). She was passing it pretty good.”
Spring Hill (26-7, 5-1) rebounded from its first loss in district play, a four-game decision to Henderson on Friday. Spring Hill – ranked No. 25 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s Class 3A state poll – sweeps the season series with Carthage, which drops to 18-13, 3-3.
The Lady Panthers also made a key defensive adjustment. Carthage outside hitter Sarah Williams had 10 kills in game two. Williams also finished with 18 kills, but was limited to six kills in the last two games.
“Spring Hill doubled up their defense on Sarah after the second game,” Carthage head coach Lauren Dennard said. “I think this showed us we can’t always just pass to her.”
Spring Hill had a 47-38 edge in kills, with Black making 13 kills. Jerri Bass led Spring Hill with 27 assists.
Dennard praised the passing of Kenzie Tate, who led all players with 32 assists. Spring Hill’s Aly Curtis led all players with 17 digs, but Carthage had a 68-65 edge in digs, 16 by Shelby Soape.
Spring Hill head coach Karen Brundrett said her team did a better job with its approach to the match, especially in comparison to Friday’s loss to Henderson, a team Brundrett said her Lady Panthers overlooked.
However, Brundrett did point out several things that were not ideal in her opinion.
“What could have been better? Ball control, defense, blocking, footwork,” Brundrett said. “The win is nice, but we have a lot to work on.”
Spring Hill plays at Gladewater on Friday while Carthage plays at Gilmer.
Set 1
Black had four of her game-high five kills as part of a 10-1 stretch which gave Spring Hill a 15-4 lead. Voelzke had four kills for Spring Hill while Bass had eight assists and Jacey Fleet had five digs. Tate had seven assists for Carthage.
Set 2
Williams capped a big game by producing the last two points as the Lady Dogs rallied. Williams gave Carthage a 25-24 lead with a kill then got an ace on the ensuing serve. Williams led all players with 10 kills and 10 digs.
Spring Hill rallied from a 9-3 deficit and had a 19-16 lead before Williams helped rally the Lady Dogs with four kills. Tate had 12 assists for Carthage while Soape had seven digs. Bass had seven assists while Curtis had six digs for Spring Hill. Carthage overcame a 4-0 disadvantage in service errors.
Set 3
Fleet had four straight service points with an ace to help Spring Hill build a 24-15 lead. Voelzke had four kills and two blocks while Bass had five assists and four digs. Tate had six assists.
Set 4
Five of Spring Hill’s six points were on Voelzke kills. Carthage would rally behind five kills by Williams, who also had two aces.
Black added five kills. Bass had seven assists while Curtis and Caroline Hargis had five digs each. Tate had seven assists while Soape had five digs.
This story will appear in the Panola Watchman.