ERMA – The Caper Tigers and Red Raiders proved to be evenly matched volleyball teams last week.
Although Ocean City High School’s girls came out of top, the Lower Cape May Regional girls had the chance to win with a pair of match points in the second game.
The Caper Tigers controlled the first set, winning 25-18, and the Red Raiders controlled the third, never trailing and winning 25-15.
LCMR looked like it was on their way to victory, leading 17-12 in the second set, but Ocean City battled back to tie 17-17. Even though the Caper Tigers were a point up three more times, the match kept tying through 20-20.
The Red Raiders took a 22-20 lead and then a 23-22 lead, but the Caper Tigers went ahead 24-23 for their first match point. Ocean City tied again, then had a set point at 25-24. The LCMR girls responded to tie and then to lead again at 26-25 before Ocean City scored three straight points to win 28-26 and stay alive in the match.
In the third set, Ocean City controlled the pace early, taking an 8-3 lead, expanded it to 15-7 and then 20-13 before finally winning 25-15.
Caper Tiger Ella Biersbach led the team in kills with 6. Ava Riggins and Harley Siner had four each, Chely Candelaria had three and Melinda Reeves, Adeline Pacevich and Addison Lagares had two each.
Reeves had 13 digs, Candelaria and Pacevich 10 each and Biersbach eight. Pacevich led her team with 15 assists. Riggins had 11 service points.
Brynn Williams was the force for the Red Raiders with 12 kills and 14 digs, both team-leading stats.
Rylee Boyd had 17 assists, 12 service points and seven digs to go with her five kills. Brooke Sutor had eight kills and five digs; Cassidy Derrickson had eight digs, seven assists and five service points; and Gabrielle Erace had 20 digs and four service points;
LCMR head coach Greta Pacevich said she is really excited about the season.
“We have a fairly young team, mostly comprised of sophomores and juniors. We lost some key players last year, but I’m really happy with the progress we’ve made and how the younger girls have stepped up,” she said.
Pacevich is expecting senior captain Biersbach to be a big part of the offense. “We also have our other captain, junior setter Adeline Pacevich and then on top of that, we have two wonderful sophomores, middle hitter Ava Riggins and libero Melinda Reeves.
Other key players are Siner, a junior outside hitter; Candelaria, a right side hitter, and senior Lagares. “It’s her first year on varsity, but she is doing a good job as a leader on the court,” the coach said.
In spite of the team’s youth, the coach is very confident in her team.
“We have quite a few girls that play club volleyball, that play year-round …. It really helps the organization when we have girls playing year-round. I think even though we’re young on paper, we play a little bit more mature than what we are.”
The girls beat Winslow Township in a scrimmage and Pleasantville to start the season and then lost a close one to Middle Township (30-28, 25-20) before the Ocean City match.
Pacevich said the biggest goal is to be competitive in every single match this season and to make sure the players can receive and get their serves in.
“We have been really pushing defense in the offseason and serve/receive, and putting the ball in play on the other side of the net and making the opponent make the mistake, not us,” she said.
Pacevich noted the team’s strengths will be serving and setting. “We have two pretty experienced middles that play year-round,” she said. “And probably the best libero we’ve had in our school’s history and she’s only a sophomore.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave staff
