Cape volleyball falls to DMA in five sets

The Cape volleyball team ended the regular season Oct. 28 with a 25-20, 8-25, 16-25, 25-20 and 6-15 loss to Delaware Military Academy on the Vikings’ Senior Night. The Lady Vikings fall to 7-8, while the Seahawks move to 8-5.

Rileigh Wilson led the Vikings with 22 kills and 12 digs. Megan Smith put up 33 assists and bumped 15 digs. Libero Harlee Graulich tallied 29 digs and three aces. Kali Lawson had 11 digs and six kills. Laurelee Mobius had seven kills and four digs. Natalie Derrickson bumped eight digs and served an ace. Tatum Friend had a kill and roofed two blocks. Senior Hope Reed reached the 100-kill milestone in the third set of the match.

“Tonight’s match versus DMA was certainly an emotional roller coaster,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “Sets one and four were some of the cleanest we’ve played all year. We served extremely effectively; we were making consistent first touches in both serve receive and in rally, which allowed setter Megan [Smith] to run all of our offensive options. Sets two and three were just the opposite. Our first touch was so inconsistent; it forced our setting to be less consistent and we didn’t do a good enough job offensively to keep the ball in play and advance the play. Their libero played a phenomenal match and had such a good read on us. I thought our blocking was effective and efficient with touches on several balls. We still must improve our ability to score in creative ways. We can’t afford to become predictable.”

Cape made it off the DIAA bubble with positive news. They will travel to Caesar Rodney Thursday, Nov. 4, to play the Riders in the first round of the state tournament. They fell to CR 3-1 Oct. 21.

“Playing CR again will be fun,” said Coupe. “I think we can benefit from playing them so recently.”