Rams size at net too much for Falcons

Riverdale’s Catlin Pauley pushes the ball over the net, while an Upper Sandusky player tries to block it during the Rams win over the Falcons on Tuesday.

UPPER SANDUSKY — Good teams coming off of a heartbreaking loss typically respond one of two ways. They either bounce back and dominate their next opponent, or experience a carryover and come out lethargic.
Unfortunately for the Riverdale volleyball team, Upper Sandusky elected the former on Tuesday.
The Rams yielded just 22 points in a three-set North Central Conference walloping of Riverdale, 25-5, 25-7, 25-10, after having four days off to rid the melancholy of a five-set shortfall to Wynford last Thursday.
The Royals were able to offset Upper Sandusky’s trinity of 6-foot, 2-inch hitters during their win against the Rams (6-3, 5-2 NCC) with a career-high 35 kills from outside hitter Paige Brady. The Falcons (3-10, 2-5 NCC), with their tallest player standing no higher than 5-foot, 10-inches, could not.
After Taylor Graboski’s 15 kills, Jessi Holly, who has a wingspan that would make a pterodactyl blush, had 10 and Molly Owens had eight as the three combined to commit just five errors on 52 attempts. The three were the biggest reason Riverdale attempted just 22 serves on the night.
The Rams still appear to be riding an ace wave they caught in Bucyrus. They tallied 16 aces against the Falcons after racking up 15 against the Royals.
While the Falcons desperately needed her at 100 percent, Catlin Pauley played with an ailing shoulder.
“We were missing our biggest hitter and biggest server,” coach Jenny Young said. “Before the game she felt something in her shoulder pop, so that really affected us. We had some freshmen playing some time tonight that don’t usually get out there.”
Pauley, who leads the team in aces, attempted one serve and hit it out of bounds. She was then substituted for during her serve the rest of the match. She was 4 of 5 hitting and recorded one kill.
“It’s the same story,” Young said. “We’re not getting the consistency. (Monday) we played a great game, went four games against a really good team and then (Tuesday) we didn’t show up. We’re so inconsistent and I keep telling them they need to show up 100 percent of the time.”
Taylor Farmer, Kayclynn Wise and Areaha Dodge were the three freshmen Young brought along. Farmer had two blocks and was 29 of 33 setting with four assists. Jordan York had four blocks and was perfect on eight attacks.
Riverdale hosts Marion Harding on Thursday.

By NICK MARLOW
Times news bureau

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Posted by Kenton Times on September 19, 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry