Downingtown West pulls away from Avon Grove for another Ches-Mont League win
DOWNINGTOWN >> As both teams walked back onto the court and got into position following an Avon Grove timeout early in the third set, Downingtown West’s Hailey Lewis stood at the baseline and waited.
Once the official blew his whistle to begin play, Lewis began her routine, looking down and bouncing the ball three times. As the gym went silent, Lewis concentrated, twisted the ball in her hands, looked up, took one step and one big jump before thumping a serve.
Point Downingtown West. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Lewis would score off her serve four times in that stretch, giving the Whippets a a 14-6 lead in the third, and putting an exclamation point on the Whippets’ straight-set sweep over Avon Grove, 25-19, 25-16, 25-15, in a key Ches-Mont League showdown.
“I focused on not trying to be nervous and to have fun with it,” Lewis said. “We overall did really good. Knowing that our players have been really sick and down under, we performed at our best. Avon Grove definitely kept up with us and their libero had really good passes. They had some really good hitters too.”
The Whippets entered Wednesday evening’s game with a 4-1 record with all four wins coming in Ches-Mont League play. The matchup against the 4-2 Red Devils was not an easy win, to say the least. Both teams struggled early to maintain the lead in each of the three sets.
In set one, the Red Devils and Whippets traded points back and forth, before Lewis came in and helped West go on a seven-point-run, with some help from Aly Reardon and Kenzie Pincura.
Up 11-4, Downingtown West would once again trade points. Hannah Lammey and Vika Posse would bring the score within five after a going on a small run themselves, but the Whippets would win the first set by six, winning 25-19.
Despite West getting the first win, the Whippets’ momentum seemed to be minimal.
“Avon Grove always presents problems for us,” said coach David Parrish. “They handle the ball pretty well and we had some good server’s points. But, if we weren’t scoring on our serves they were putting us under some pressure. They are a very solid and well-coached team and they’re pretty young so, they will be good in the future.
“As for us,” coach Parrish continued. “We struggled a bit in the first game with our passing, but we cleaned it up in the second and third game. For the most part, we were in control and in system, so I was pretty happy. We are blessed with some really good servers so almost anybody can get out on a run at any time. What I told the team after the first game was that we have to clean up our serve-receive. They were serving pretty hard and I asked them to move back a little more to give them more time. Our libero was struggling a little bit in the first game, but in the second and third game, she passed very well.”
The Whippets picked it up in the second set and won in a pretty convincing manor, thanks to Reardon and Pincura getting their shots in order. The duo combined for seven kills and led the team to 25-16 win.
Avon Grove scored the first point in the third set and by the looks of the crowd, had many fans worried. But once Avon Grove got up 2-0, Reardon stepped in for West to stem the tide.
After an Avon Grove timeout, Lewis would go to the line to score four consecutive points for West. The Whippets would walk to the finish line after that, winning the final set, 25-13.
“I thought we played really well,” Reardon said. “I thought we controlled our serves and we took control of the game overall, so it went well. The team passed well and my sets that I got from the setters help me to hit well. I feel like [Avon Grove] dropped down some from last year, but they kept us on our toes the whole game. They made us work for every point.”
