By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
It was a battle between the top team in the Coastal Conference against the bottom team. That certainly showed in the first game as the D.H. Conley Vikings raced to a 25-3 win over the Washington Pam Pack in Tuesday’s volleyball action.
The Pack (0-17, 0-11) regrouped and played better in the next two games, but Conley (16-2, 11-0) was too strong as the Vikings posted wins of 25-13 and 25-12 to complete the sweep.
“Conley has a really good, solid program that they’ve been working on for a while,” Washington coach Tara Hunter said. “We’re slowly, but surely getting there.”
Conley jumped out to a 13-1 lead in the first game, and just dominated from there.
The Pack got behind 7-1 in the second game before a Blaklee Wolfe kill sparked her team. Racheal Toler served up four straight points, while Haley Hiatt had a kill and combined with Wolfe for a block to provide two of those points.
Washington got within 8-7, but the Vikings were able to pull away.
The Vikings again got out to a big lead in the third game, going up 11-2 and 15-5.
Sarah Nicholls rattled off four straight service points, and Jazzmin Gibbs had a couple smashes, to get Washington within 17-10. However, Conley once again pulled away.
“I’m okay with how we played,” Hunter said. “We had several repetitions of three hits in a row, instead of sending (the ball) over on one (hit) all the time. That’s huge progress.”
The Pack has three games left in the regular season. Washington visits South Central, second in the conference, on Thursday before paying a visit to West Carteret on Tuesday. Washington plays its final regular season game, which will be Senior Night, on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
“I just hope we keep going up,” Hunter said. “I want us to keep communicating.”