Wood keeps Garnet Valley firing in win over Ridley

RIDLEY TWP. — With so many hitters at her disposal, it’s easy to see how Garnet Valley junior setter Maddie Wood already has more than 1,200 assists in her career, even through only the equivalent of two full seasons of high school volleyball due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There’s senior Katelyn Duggery, juniors Kelly St. Germain, Marypearl Tienabeso, Kkaira Zakarian and Sara Weins. At one point this season, all have had a match with at least nine kills. Dugery, Tienabeso and Zakarian have all had matches with double-digit kills.

That’s a lot of options.

“It’s great,” Wood said. “I can definitely rely on all of them, and it’s great that they’re all different in their own way. It’s nice setting for them.”

That attack was the difference as the Jaguars remained undefeated in the Central League with a 3-0 triumph over Ridley Monday afternoon.

Zakarian led the attack with 11 kills. Weins had eight kills and two blocks. Tienabeso contributed seven kills and two blocks. St. Germain pitched in six kills in the 25-12, 25-13, 25-14 victory.

Wood, as usual, set the offense in motion with 33 assists. It was her sixth match of 30 or more helpers for the Jaguars (7-1, 5-0 Central League). She’s averaging better than 31 assists per match.

“She’s awesome,” Zakarian said of Wood. “She gives you the perfect set every time. She knows exactly what I can hit and she gets me where I have to be.”

As far as getting the ball to Wood so she can set up that plethora of hitters, well, that’s still a work in progress, Garnet Valley coach Mark Clark said.

“Our passing was better than the last game but we still have a ways to go,” Clark said. “The potential we have is there. We’re getting better and better on serve-receive and on defense. We’re moving more and talking more. It’s little things, that’s what we have to clean up.”

Wood seconded that sentiment.

“(Passing) is definitely one of our biggest weak points,” Wood said. “We’ve been working on it a lot in practice. We’re training really hard to get better at that every day. It’s not just our DSs (defensive specialists) or our liberos that have to pass, everyone has to pass so we work on that a lot and we’re getting better every day.”

Garnet Valley’s hitters made it tough on the game Green Raiders (4-5, 2-3), who received 11 digs, eight assists and three blocks from Emily Liberio, six kills from Kyla Carney and three blocks apiece from Jackie Borcky and Julia Solomon. Every time Ridley made a run, the Jaguars had an answer. The Green Raiders were within 13-8 in the first set when Garnet Valley reeled off 11 of the next 13 points. Zakarian had two kills in that stretch.

It was much of the same the rest of the way. Ridley got within 16-12 in the second set before GV responded with nine of the next 10 points. Zakarian and Tienabeso had two kills each in that span. Garnet Valley tallied nine of the last 10 points in the third set to close out the match.

“It’s definitely tough going up against a team with that many hitter but I have 100 percent confidence in my team,” Liberio said. “I believe no matter what, we will get the ball up, no matter how hard it’s hit or how good that teams is, I believe in my team 100 percent no matter if someone is nervous on the floor, I still have confidence in them. I’m proud of us. I think we’ve come a long way. We didn’t give up.”

In other Central League action:

Springfield 3, Upper Darby 0 >> Katie Letcher came up big for the Cougars with 34 assists and eight digs. Baleigh Rhodes added 11 kills, four digs and one ace in the 25-19, 25-9, 25-22 victory. Katie Bachetti (10 kills, seven digs) and Bianca Brown (five kills, three blocks, two digs) also had strong games for Springfield.

Lower Merion 3, Marple Newtown 0 >> Azira Benjamin paced the Tigers with six kills, six digs and two blocks. Mary Buchy added eight digs. Morgan Hopson chipped in with five digs, while Nicole Tarr had two aces.

The Aces won 25-12, 25-13, 25-14 to stay undefeated.

Conestoga 3, Strath Haven 0 >> Setter Gabby Zewier had 10 assists, four digs and two aces. Lauren McGinn pitched in with seven kills, four assists, two blocks, two digs and two aces. Emily McGinn pitched in with eight kills and six digs. Libero Molly Prendergast paced the defense with 20 digs. She also had one assist and one ace.

Haverford 3, Penncrest 1 >> Liz Kurcon powered the Lions with 16 kills and 13 digs. Kelly McDonnell paced the defense with 17 digs. Maddy Bachovchin added 14 assists and two aces, while Fiona O’Loughlin contributed four kills, four blocks and three aces.

The Fords won 25-20, 25-10, 22-25, 25-19. No other details were reported for Haverford.

In nonleague action:

Sun Valley 3, Chichester 0 >> Julia Kuehl led the offense with seven kills, and Gianna Ellis provided five kills and seven digs in a 25-9, 25-11, 25-12 sweep.
Laura Stritzinger provided four blocks, and Jenna Jones dished 18 assists.