Sussex Academy volleyball grabs 11th win of season at Homecoming

Facing a quick turnaround following a 3-0 loss to Henlopen South foe Indian River Oct. 16, the Sussex Academy volleyball team took out its frustrations on Tatnall with a 3-0 win Oct. 17.

“We bounced back from a very out-of-character loss yesterday,” said coach Hailee Gooch. “We went in today with a totally different lineup, and they did a great job getting back to playing together and playing like the team we've seen the majority of the season.”

Before the first set, the girls took time to acknowledge the educators in their lives who have made an impact with a Teachers’ Appreciation ceremony. But once the smiles faded into game faces, the Seahawks were locked in thanks to the schoolwide pep rally held an hour before the match.

“It's a lot of energy,” said junior Veronika Musina. “The whole school's kind of coming together. We're celebrating our school pride most of all.” 

Tatnall kept things close in the first set, but Sussex Academy pulled through with a 25-19 victory. The next two sets were a different story.

“The first set was more of an experiment, and the second two were, like, ‘OK, we need to lock in,’” junior Maya Hastings said. 

Wins of 25-9 and 25-11 secured the 11th victory of the season for the Seahawks, who are in a position to cause some drama in the Henlopen South if they can tackle Lake Forest Oct. 21.

“They were releasing some of the nerves they had after [the IR] loss and realizing their capabilities,” Gooch said. “They clicked and played together versus playing separately.”

Defense was a strength for Sussex Academy in the Tatnall match, as the Seahawks were led in blocks by Ellie Merrick and Grayce Glover. Musina pitched in three, finishing one behind the team-leading four.

“They had a lot of good placing with their hitting, especially their outside,” Musina said. “I had to take a lot more time to think, ‘Where's this ball going?’ get set and then get in there for the block.”

Junior Grayce Glover paced the team with 12 digs, finishing ahead of Jopie Smith’s nine. Smith had 21 assists, most of them going to Hastings, who had a game-high 14 kills.

“I was getting pretty good sets tonight,” Hastings said. “Coming out of yesterday, I was a little bit mad, but I think I put that anger into something that could be useful.” 

Hastings' three aces were also a team high.

“This is the exact character we've seen the majority of the season,” Gooch said. “They're tough, they're resilient and they showed up today ready to kind of take back some of what was lost [against IR] and made me very proud of how they played today.”

Sussex Academy (11-3) will wrap up its regular season with a Senior Night game against Lake Forest at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 21. A win would force a tiebreaker to determine the winner of the Henlopen South.