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Royals volleyball falls to Conrad in second round of DIAA tourney

Delmarva Christian graduates six seniors
November 7, 2017

The Delmarva Christian volleyball team’s Cinderella season came to an end in the second round of the DIAA state tournament Nov. 4, as the Royals fell to a tough Conrad team 3-1 at Saint Mark’s High School. The fifth-seeded Royals had only lost one match in the 2017 season until they met the 12th-seeded Red Wolves.

The Royals came back to win the second set 25-20 after dropping a 25-12 first set.

Senior setter Olivia Berger led the Royals with 20 assists and eight digs in the match. Siera Jones and Camryn Thompson garnered 19 and 16 digs, respectively. Thompson also had four kills. Ashlyn Stonebraker tallied nine digs. Senior Gabrielle Book knocked down six kills and had seven digs.

“It took us a while to get used to the speed of the game playing a high-level opponent,” said Royals coach Jim Berger. “I think we got used to the speed of the game, and adjusted and played really well in the second set. I’m tremendously happy with our effort. Our attitude was great during the match. They just made more plays than us. We were out of system more than they were, and that was the difference in the match.”

Conrad’s Emily Hersch and Juliana Testa each had 22 assists. Libero Alyssa Faville recorded 36 digs for the Red Wolves and served nine aces, while teammate Julie Kulesza scored 20 kills.

“We watched them in the match with Wilmington Christian,” said Olivia Berger. “They were hitting angles, and we practiced that, and then tonight they changed that up and hit down the middle. They had a big student section cheering them on. We usually have one at home that pumps us up, but we didn’t have that up here tonight.”

The Red Wolves took the third and fourth sets 25-13 and 25-18. 

Delmarva Christian ends the season at 14-2, while Conrad moves on to play Saint Mark’s Tuesday, Nov. 7. The Spartans defeated Caravel 3-1 in the second round.

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