Cape volleyball pulls off big win at Indian River
The Cape volleyball team used a balanced attack and strong defense to defeat Indian River 18-25, 25-17, 25-22, 20-25 and 16-14 Nov. 12 in Dagsboro. Cape moves to 8-1, while the Indians are 8-2.
The Vikings were down six points in the first-to-15 (win by two) fifth set and clawed their way back for the 16-14 victory.
“What a match tonight,” smiled Cape head coach Tyler Coupe. “The sense of pride we coaches feel is immense. IR threw punch after punch and we never backed down. Their punches landed multiple times and we stayed with them and pushed back. That grit we demonstrated is what we asked of them. To break each set down into mini games. To not be overwhelmed, but to focus on mini five games within each set. What a day to be a Viking.”
Rileigh Wilson led the Vikings at the net with 22 kills, mostly set up by sophomore setter Megan Smith’s 41 assists. Bre Kusen powered 13 kills. Angelica Kusen registered nine aces. Senior libero Emily Lamb picked up 17 digs, and Kali Lawson scored 10 digs.
Jocelyn Leach had five digs, but none more important than the one on match point off a kill attempt by three-time all-stater Raychel Ehlers.
“This is definitely a win that shows how strong we are as a team,” said junior Rileigh Wilson. “Our mental and physical strength is continuing to grow as we climb our ladder one step at a time.”
The Indians were led by Ehlers, who scored 20 kills and 13 digs. Her sophomore sister Camryn put up 28 assists and eight digs. Nicole Woody tallied 17 digs. Vasilia Diakos powered 11 kills, while Mya Mumford scored seven.
“As hard as we fought and happy we are with the win, it did still acknowledge some inconsistency in our game,” said Coupe. “Our first touch both serve and serve-receive needs improvement. We gave away too many points to a high-quality team. The inconsistency in our reception forced us to be relatively one-dimensional offensively. Thankfully, our pin hitters were on point, but we need to ensure we’re able to get our middles involved more. A fun night overall, and now we move on to prep for next week.”
The junior varsity Vikings scrapped to a 2-1 victory over the Indians JV. It was the first JV win over the Indians since 2017.
The Vikings host Milford Tuesday, Nov. 17, when they will honor their Class of 2021.
