Patrick Henry is the new kid on the block in the recently realigned River Ridge District.
Thursday night the Patriots, former member of the now-defunct Western Valley District, invaded the gym at fellow River Ridge member and 5-time state champion Cave Spring for a head-to-head match with the Knights.
Cave Spring came away the convincing 3-game sweep (25-15; 25-14; 25-11) in a match that saw the three games virtually mirror images of each other with PH staying close in the first part of each game before Cave Spring went on a scoring run to pull away.
“This was just lack of experience,” PH head coach Patty Sheedy noted afterward. “Cave Spring is very good and we’re playing several freshmen and sophomores. It comes down to being able to read the other team quickly. We’ve won two district games and we keep getting better.”
Things were knotted at 13 in the opening game when Cave Spring came out of a timeout and went on a 12-2 scoring run to win 25-15. Patrick Henry had early leads in game two, and things were tied at 12 before the Knights put things in high gear with a 9-0 run to pull away to the 25-14 victory. Patrick Henry came back from an early 6-1 deficit in game three to knot the score at 7, but Cave Spring went on an 18-4 burst to capture the clincher.
“We were using different people at different spots tonight and we played a little bit better,” Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis said. “We played in a Pennsylvania tournament over the weekend that helped figure out a new lineup. Our confidence is growing and we showed some good defense and passing tonight. This win was a team effort.”
Tessa Klimaitis led the Cave Spring power game with 12 kills, while Piper Roe slammed down 10 kills for the Knights. Junior setter Sidney McTigue came through with 10 digs,, with senior setter Olivia Sass providing 29 assists.
Annalee Lowman and Olivia Pullin had 8 and 7 digs respectively for PH. Bradley Smith came through with 6 kills for the Patriots.
-Bill Turner
