Cape volleyball shuts out Riders
The Cape volleyball squad wasn’t allowed to have any fans in the Caesar Rodney gymnasium due to pandemic rules, but that didn’t matter as the Vikings brought their own spirit and shut out the Riders 25-21, 25-15 and 26-24.
Megan Smith demonstrated her prowess at the net, setting up 30 assists for the Vikings. Kali Lawson slammed three aces. Libero Emily Lamb provided 16 digs.
Bre Kusen and Rileigh Wilson pounded home nine kills each, while Katie Knarr, Angelica Kusen and Hope Reed delivered with six, five and four kills, respectively. Knarr and Jocelyn Leach had nine and seven digs.
“Coming into the match, we expected CR to be able to match us offensively,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “They have some explosive hitters across the net, and they certainly put that on display. We as coaches were thrilled with how we responded. Rather than seem defeated after a play by CR, the girls seemed to have a fire and intensity to do better the next play; an intensity, we as coaches feel like we haven’t consistently seen from them before. I thought our block and defense did a great job keeping us in play. Their players got their points, but when we had our chances to score, we capitalized.”
The sixth-year coach was quick to point to the play of Smith as a integral part of the victory.
“The diversity of our offense is both a credit to our serve-receive and in rally defense, but also to Megan Smith for making sure we weren’t predictable or one-dimensional,” he said. “Offensively, no one player shined brighter than the other, and that’s a huge goal of ours – to have such intensity and effective attacking from all players. It was a good showing for our first week, and we look forward to getting back in the gym to prep for another two tough matches next week.”
The Vikings are 2-0 on the season; they will travel to Sussex Academy Tuesday, Oct. 27, and play host to Smyrna Thursday, Oct. 29.
The junior varsity Vikings fell to CR 2-0, moving to 1-1 on the season.
