Cape volleyball shuts out IR, falls to Riders
The Cape boys’ volleyball team had an up-and-down week, as the Vikings smashed Indian River 24-14, 25-12, 25-17 April 27, then dropped a grueling five-set match 25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 14-16 to Caesar Rodney April 28.
The Vikings started out strong at Indian River, controlling momentum throughout the match. Lawson Whaley led the Vikings with 18 kills.
“We all were spread out pretty evenly,” said Whaley. “Indian River is always tough, but we’re happy with how we played.”
Senior setter Jason Harpel-Richards put up 37 assists.
“I thought our play today started with our good passing,” said Harpel-Richards. “We have all of our options when we have great passing. When we get a rhythm going, we are tough with our height and physicality. Hopefully this builds a lot of momentum going down the road.”
Senior Ryder Van Horn knocked down 10 kills and bumped five digs. Junior libero Jacob Panyko bumped 12 digs. Senior Braxton Figgs smashed eight kills and had three blocks.
“Indian River’s defense was great and really efficient,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “It was the best our offense has looked. We had a lot of service errors. We had 15 errors, which is half a full set for the other team. We took too many unneeded risks today.”
Just 24 hours later Caesar Rodney rode into Cape’s gym and defeated the Vikings in the closest possible way with a 16-14 fifth-set victory.
“It was a disappointing loss tonight for our guys and it was felt in the gym,” said Coupe. “We came off a really effective and efficient match versus IR, and we just weren’t able to execute at the same level. Credit to CR’s defense, they played a brilliant game. They consistently got positive block touches, and then the times we were able to take full swings, their backcourt defenders made some really impressive saves.”
Harpel-Rickards put up 40 assists in the match. Van Horn and Whaley each had 17 kills to go along with 14 and 15 digs, respectively. Panyko bumped 16 digs from his libero position. Figgs had six blocks.
CR was led by Camren Scaffedi with 42 assists.
Dan has worked for the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years as a photographer and reporter, covering high school sports and happenings around eastern Sussex County. He won a photography award from the National Newspaper Association, and numerous awards from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association. A Delaware native, Dan graduated from Cape in 1972 and returned as a teacher and coach in the 1980s. He retired from the classroom in 2016. He was inducted into Cape High’s Legends Stadium in 2016. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, grandchildren and dogs.
