PARSONS – The Altoona-Midway Middle School volleyball team appears to be finding its stride, as they split a pair of varsity matches in the St. Patrick’s Triangular here Monday afternoon.
The Lady Jets lost their opening match against the host squad, as St. Patrick’s escaped with a 25-22, 25-16 victory, but AMMS bounced back to take the measure of a strong Altamont team 25-23, 25-19 in the nightcap.
“The girls were fired up tonight. I'm so proud of all of them,” said AMMS head coach Marci Henderson. “We got down eight points really fast on a good server for St. Pat's in the first varsity match. But the girls didn’t quit and came back within three to almost win.
“Communication sort of fell apart during the second set against St. Pat’s,” Henderson continued. “But after a break while the B-team played, the girls were ready to take on Altamont. They are a hard hitting team, but the girls really worked together to get some digs, hits, and tips to win it in two sets.”
Against St. Pat’s, Alaura Maple and Heather Lane led the serving assault with 12 and eight serves, respectively. Emma Martin paced the Lady Jets with eight hits, while Anna Beckwith added six. Makayla Wood and Lane added five each. In the passing department, Wood and Summer Raymond recorded five apiece while Lane and Martin both had four.
The leading servers for AMMS in their victory over Altamont were Wood, who had a dozen, and Maple, who fired in 11 serves. Raymond also had six serves. Martin came up with 12 hits for the Lady Jets, while Wood and Sophia Dannels recorded eight each.
The Lady Jet junior varsity squad split both of their matches. Playing only two sets to 15, with no rubber set allowed, AMMS tied St. Patrick’s 15-11, 11-15 and also tied Altamont 9-15, 15-12.
Beckwith had eight serves and Dannels had seven passes against St. Pat’s jayvee. Beckwith also notched seven serves against Altamont JV while Olivia Goodwin had four passes and Dannels added four hits.
“We (AMMS jayvee) were working with some different girls. They adjusted well and we just need to get some more practice in our new rotations,” Henderson said. “They hustled really well and worked hard.”
Altoona-Midway, now 3-3 on the season, will host Pleasanton on Thursday.