Smyrna volleyball overpowers Cape, winning three straight games

Cape volleyball knew what game Smyrna would bring to the court Sept. 13 in Lewes, and the Eagles brought it.

“They bring power and confidence to the net,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “You have to weather the storm against them. We work on confidence ourselves every day in practice. I felt there were times in the match when our confidence wavered.”

The Eagles busted out of the blocks, winning the first game 25-6, then backing that up with 25-13 and 25-18 games for a clean sweep 3-0 match victory.

The Eagles were paced by Kenley Cook with seven kills, Hannah Osborne with 11 assists and Moran Holman with 11 digs.

Cape countered with Abigail Derrickson’s 13 assists and Emily Lamb’s 12 digs. Bre Kusen and Mikiyah Ennas had four and three kills, respectively.

Cape falls to 1-2 on the season and will play at 2-1 Indian River Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Smyrna leveled at 2-2 after losing to Saint Mark’s Sept. 14, and they were set to play at Tower Hill Monday, Sept. 17.

Coach Coupe’s Corner: “I expected there to be a difference between Smyrna and us. They’re returning some upper-class girls with varsity experience and we’re so underclass heavy. However, we as a team still need to hold ourselves to a higher standard while playing. We can’t afford to make so many unforced errors – they’ll stack up against us much too quickly. The indecisiveness was a surprise to see. We instill confidence in them in practice to be smart and aggressive players, so that was disappointing. Certainly a tough loss, but not tough enough to lose sight of the big picture of growing a young and talented team into what we all believe they can achieve.”