Parkview Baptist is looking for ways to blend new players into its lineup, but it was a pair of returning stalwarts that made the difference in Tuesday night’s nondistrict volleyball match against St. Joseph’s Academy.
Junior Marin Price and sophomore Olivia Kohn combined to produce 36 kills, leading Parkview Baptist to a 3-1 win over the visiting Redstickers by scores of 25-19, 23-25, 25-23 and 25-21.
Price led the way for Parkview (5-2) with 23 kills and 15 digs. Kohn had 13 kills, 13 digs, 16 assists and four aces.
“At the beginning of the season, there are a lot of teams trying to figure out the lineups and what kids will be consistent,” said Parkview coach Allison Leake, whose squad got a boost from 10 total aces. “Some things fell our way tonight. We were hitting our spots with our serves and that helped us a lot.”
St. Joseph’s (2-3) rallied late in the second set to tie the match. Trailing 23-21, the Redstickers started a 4-0 closing run on Audrey Harrison’s kill. The run played out with a Parkview miscommunication allowing a ball to drop, Maddie Mann’s winner, and a call against Parkview for being in the net.
The third set also finished up 25-23, but Parkview held on in that one to take a 2-1 lead. Trailing 21-15, kills by Elle Uter and Charlotte Richards helped SJA get within 24-23. The set ended on an SJA serving error.
Parkview led most of the way in the fourth set, but never by more than four points. Kills by Jules Lawrence and Khloe Eason were part of a late spurt that brought SJA within 22-20. Parkview then sandwiched winning spikes from Price and Kohn around an ace by Caris Durbin to finish off the 25-21 fourth-set win.
Uter topped St. Joseph’s with 15 kills while Harrison added six kills. Mackenzie Chulli (16 digs), Emmy Graves (11 digs, 2 blocks) and Mann (2 blocks) were also factors.
“We’re getting better every time we take the court,” SJA coach Donna Pixley said. “We play a lot of kids and a lot of them don’t have varsity experience yet, but they’re getting there. They could have given up a couple of times, and they didn’t. I’m proud of them.”
Parkview opened with a 25-19 win in the first set. Payton Hutchison, who finished with four solo blocks, had three in the early going as the Eagles moved out to a 22-14 lead. The Redstickers got two kills from Harrison and one each from Uter and Graves, slicing their deficit to 24-19. Price’s kill ended the set for Parkview.
“We’re really young,” Leake said of her lineup that included a starting seventh grader. “It’s the beginning of the season, and we’re running a lineup that’s kind of funky. (Price and Kohn) are our two big hitters, but one of them sets, so we just manage things.”
