Cape volleyball falls to Smyrna 3-0

Cape started off slow, falling in the first set 25-8, and couldn’t recover, dropping the final two sets 25-19 and 25-17 to lose the home opener to Northern Division rival Smyrna Sept. 15.

“Smyrna’s a top team in our conference and a top team in the state,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “I expected from them what we got from them, but I didn’t expect was us to struggle as much as we did in the first and third sets. In the second set, that’s the team I wanted. That’s the team I’ve seen in our gym the past three weeks. Smyrna just put so much pressure on us from the service line and we just couldn’t respond.”

Cape went down 14 points in the opening set before their first score. The Lady Vikings gave up an average of five points on their serve, which is traditionally not their style.

“We are a much better team than we showed from behind the line,” said the second-year coach. “That disappoints me. The team I saw in the second set, that’s the team I really want to focus on and move forward.”

Cape junior transfer Sophia Spinelli spoke about playing her first varsity game.

“I was definitely nervous at first, and it showed in the first set,” she said. “But we got our fire in the second game, and if we keep playing like that, we should be good the rest of the season.”

“I think in the beginning we had our jitters,” said junior setter Logan Shuttleworth. “We are a relatively new team, lots of new players, but we’ve connected so well at practice. We just didn’t show it that well tonight.”

But the veteran player praised the team for its spirit in the second game.

“We felt so good in the second game. The team had a lot of positive energy that game. We don’t have a single person on this team with a bad attitude, and that’s fantastic.”

Cape travels to Indian River Tuesday, Sept. 20, to battle the Indians.