Ridgewood volleyball wins two conference matches

    Ridgewood Lady Spartans volleyball team won two conference battles last week, both on their home court.

    On Tuesday, Oct. 12, Ridgewood defeated the Mercer County Eagles in a three-game battle, 25-22, 23-25 and 25-18.

    “We finally had a match where we played like the Spartans should,” said coach Lisa Miller. “We have kind of been in an end of the season slide and haven’t been clicking. Tonight we had some quick movement and better teamwork. It took three but we pushed when we needed to.”

    Junior Annie Gelaude led the offensive attack, racking up 10 kills in the match. Ashley Kruger added eight and Sammi Stevenson, seven. Getting six each were Katie Luallen and Ella Teel. Hanna Swanson got one.

    Swanson led with assists, having 22 during the night. Teel added two and Kruger and Stevenson got one each.

    The Spartans served up 12 aces for the night with Lessard leading the team with six. Swanson added four and Kruger and Natalie Nelson had one each.

    Gelaude and Teel led the defensive attack having five digs each. Kruger and Swanson finished with four each and Nelson added three. Lessard finished with two and Luallen had one.

    Only four balls were blocked during the match. Kruger had three and Luallen, one.

    On Thursday, Oct. 14, Ridgewood hosted ROWVA for their last home game of the season and won 25-23 and 25-10.

    The night began with six seniors being recognized for all of their hard work. They were Ella Teel, Hayley McDonough, Katie Luallen, Sammi Stevenson, Dani Lessard, and Natalie Nelson.

    “It was nice to win on senior night,” coach Miller said. “We worked the ball well and were able to utilize some of our specialty plays tonight. We still need to step up our intensity to finish our season strong. This is a great bunch of seniors and have been a lot of fun. They have worked hard and been a great role models for our future Spartans.”

    Teel and Kruger led the offensive crusade with five and four kills, respectively. Having three each were Luallen, Swanson and Stevenson. Adding two was Gelaude and Taylor Vincent finished with one.

    Swanson had 16 of the 17 assists. Stevenson had the other one.

    Eight aces were served up to the ROWVA Tigers. McDowell and Vincent had three each, while Lessard and Nelson finished with one apiece.

    Only three Spartans had defensive digs with McDowell having nine for the night. Kruger finished with five and Teel, three.

    Teel and McDowell had one solo block each.

    Regional volleyball action will begin for the Spartans Wednesday, Oct. 27. Stark County will play Williamsfield for the regional opener beginning at 6 p.m. Ridgewood will play the winner of the opening game.

    On Thursday, Oct. 28, Princeville will play ROWVA at 5:30 p.m. and Wethersfield will face Galva at 6:30 p.m. The winners of the night will play each other at 7:30 p.m.

    The championship game, between the winner of Wednesday night and the winner of Thursday night, will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30.