Beavers top Chardon

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

September 05, 2008 03:07 am

— PAINESVILLE TOWNSHIP — Having a youthful squad has both its positive and negative sides.
Even though Riverside’s volleyball team has no senior returning varsity letterwinners, with three junior veterans and two sophomores with experience, the present looks bright and the future even brighter for the Beavers.
Those elements were in evidence in Thursday’s Premier Athletic Conference match at the Community Fieldhouse, where Riverside pounded out a 25-15, 25-19, 25-16 victory over Chardon.
Particularly exciting for the Beavers (4-3, 1-1) is the play of sophomore middle hitter Lauren Teknipp and sophomore setter Nicole Bayer. They were two of Riverside’s key components in their assault on Chardon (1-3, 0-2).
“They’re getting me more involved in the offense,” Teknipp, who had seven aces on 13-of-13 spiking and an ace block to go with 12 points, said. “Our setters are doing a good job of getting the ball to me. It’s good to find the middle on offense.”
Bayer is one of the people trying to do all she can to get the ball to Teknipp. She had 12 ace sets and also contributed two ace spikes on a 7-of-7 night, along with an ace block and 10 points.
“Every setter should always be looking to get the ball to their middles,” Bayer, who is Teknipp’s second cousin, said. “It’s always good to do that.”
Riverside coach Stacy Sepelak wants that to continue to be an emphasis for her team.
“We’re definitely trying to make sure we utilize Lauren,” she said. “She’s got a lot of athletic ability and size, so we want to make sure our setters make good decisions and get her the ball as much as possible.”
Such an approach makes life easier for players in other spots on the court, too. Junior veteran Erika West was 14-of-15 spiking with three aces, contributed nine ace passes and also scored 12 point. Jayne Nagy added 12 more points, while senior Meghan Pizzino supplied 10 additional points. Junior outside hitter Teresa Noewer also had seven ace spikes.
Chardon is dealing with playing inexperience. There are five seniors on the Hilltoppers roster, but most have little varsity playing time to fall back upon.
“We don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” Chardon coach Julie Kolcum said. “I think the girls are responding pretty well. I liked what I saw. We’ve just got to get more consistency.
“We’re looking for more positive plays. We have to work on things like better serve reception.”
Katie Petroff led Chardon with 12 points, an ace spike and an ace block. Abby Vlk had nine points, an ace spike and an ace dink, while Katie Majka added nine more points.
Riverside was particularly efficient in finding Teknipp in the first game. rolling out to leads of 18-11 and 22-13 before pulling away to finish it off.
Chardon got off to good starts in the second and third games. The Hilltoppers had a 6-4 lead in the second game before Teknipp and Molly Walker, who had seven points, took command for Riverside. In the third game, Chardon held the lead as late as 10-8 before Pizzino put them ahead to stay at 12-11.
“We’re still pretty young,” Sepelak said. “We need more consistency. We need to play stronger in Game 2. We need to keep find our middle as much as we can.”

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