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Central Mountain volleyball posts second sweep of week against Montoursville

By HENRY HUBER 6 min read

MILL HALL - After kicking things off with two tough losses to Penns Valley and Berwick, the Central Mountain volleyball team has seen a quick shift in the season's second full week. Its first two opponents had been able to pull off consistent runs, and co-head coaches Jenna Schienke and Erin Winslow got to work figuring out how to halt that trend. 

Coupled with its new-look lineups meshing a little better, the result has been an immediate return to .500.  

The Wildcats sweep Heartland-I foe Selinsgrove on the road to pick up their first win on Tuesday. And back on their home court two days later, they carried that into a dominant 3-0 sweep over Montoursville, defeating the Warriors by set scores of 25-6, 25-17 and 25-18 to improve to 2-2 on the season. 

Though improvements are still in order, Central Mountain's first-year head coaches have liked what they've seen from the team this week. They've been able to mix in a lot of different lineups to gauge what works best, and a lot of them ended up working out on Thursday night. 

"All of them did really well," said Central Mountain co-head coach Jenna Schienke on the team. "Claire Nestor was a big strong point for us defensively. She had a lot of blocks, especially in that first set, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game." 

"I think we still have a few things we want to tighten up, but this week was good for morale, and we saw some really strong plays out of everybody on the team," she continued. 

After a back-and-forth start to the first set, Allison Koch took up the server position and suddenly, the Wildcats took complete control.  

The serve wouldn't change hands for six straight points, two of which were Koch aces and another two being Sofia Kelley kills. And when Montoursville finally responded to force a rotation, Central Mountain responded right back to prevent it from obtaining any momentum, a trend that continued throughout the night. 

"Our ability to side out really changed. That's something we worked on a lot in practice," said Schienke, referring to how well a team plays when its opponent is serving. "Limiting the other team's runs really was a change from last week to this week, and it's something that helped us capitalize on our offense." 

The Warriors ultimately finished the first set with just one service point, as the Wildcats kept up the intensity. Nestor racked up five of her six blocks deep in the set, and Sofia Kelley posted four kills in the same frame. And whenever the latter started serving after an emphatic late-set kill, Montoursville wouldn't get another serve for the rest of the set. 

Ultimately, Central Mountain finished the first set on a 13-1 run as Charlee Toner and Kelley racked up 11 combined service points. Though the Warriors would wake up throughout the second and third set, the Wildcats seemed to be able to jumpstart runs at will, a theme that carried them to a quickly reached finish line. 

After a back-and-forth start to the second that saw it lead 6-5 early, strong serving from Gracie Grieco and Chloe Confer and net play from Alana Ingram and Koch helped create a 12-1 run. They'd go on to produce a similar run to open the third, creating cushions that kept late heroics from Montoursville at bay. 

Chloe Confer finished with a team-high 12 assists and 11 service points, making an impact as both a setter and server. Sofia Kelley fell one kill short of double digits. Allison Koch had ten service points, four kills a team-leading four aces. As a freshman, Claire Nestor added four kills to her team-leading six blocks, and Gracie Grieco was impactful at libero. 

"Sofia Kelley's been strong for us, and Chloe's been a strong setter," said Schienke when discussing standouts from the performance. "I think our ability to set everybody on our team has been really strong, and Gracie (Grieco) was obviously strong in the background, picking up a lot of stuff for us." 

For Montoursville, rough sequences plagued it throughout the night, but it never stopped fighting. After going down 18-6 late in the second, it scraped out three straight points and cut the deficit as low as seven. And in the third, it narrowed the gap to 23-18 after previously starting down 10-1. 

Emphatic kills from Laney Yonkin, strong setting from Noelle Rzeszotarski and the occasional kill or block from Allie Eberhart, Rylee Reeder and Dahlia Campbell helped the Warriors keep things interesting late. Yonkin led the team in kills with five, with Eberhart, Reeder and Campbell combining for nine. Rzeszotarski had a team-leading six assists, and Elizabeth Kane led the team in service points with six. 

Both teams will be back in action on Saturday for the PHAC volleyball tournament at Central Mountain. The Wildcats will look to build on their strong week in their first tournament under new leadership, and the Warriors will look to bounce back from Thursday's loss. 

"It was a good week leading up to it. There's strong competition that's going to be there, and we're ready to play them all," said Schienke.

Central Mountain 3, Montoursville 0 

(25-6, 25-17, 25-18) 

Central Mountain service points: Chloe Confer 11, Allison Koch 10, Charlee Toner 8, Gracie Grieco 7, Sofia Kelley 6, Summer Kitchens 3, Alana Ingram 3. Central Mountain kills: Sofia Kelley 9, Allison Koch 4, Claire Nestor 4, Alana Ingram 3, Abbie Filla 1, Chloe Confer 1. Central Mountain assists: Chloe Confer 12, Summer Kitchens 6, Gracie Grieco 4. Central Mountain aces: Allison Koch 4, Chloe Confer 3, Summer Kitchens 2, Charlee Toner 2, Gracie Grieco 1, Alana Ingram 1. Central Mountain blocks: Claire Nestor 6, Alana Ingram 3, Chloe Confer 1, Katelyn Walker 1, Sofia Kelley 1.

Montoursville service points: Elizabeth Kane 6, Laney Yonkin 5, March Manotti 3, Noelle Rzeszotarski 3, Emma Ammerman 1. Montoursville kills: Laney Yonkin 5, Dahlia Campbell 3, Rylee Reeder 3, Allie Eberhart 3, Sophia Rosato 1, Noelle Rzeszotarski 1. Montoursville assists: Noelle Rzeszotarski 6, Rylee Reeder 2, Dahlia Campbell 1, Sophia Rosato 1. Montoursville aces: Laney Yonkin 3, Elizabeth Kane 1, Emma Ammerman 1. Montoursville blocks: Sophia Rosato 2, Allie Eberhart 2, Rylee Reeder 1.

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