FREMONT – Though it won the first set of its match against Sylvania Northview Saturday afternoon, the Ross volleyball team didn’t get the uplift in energy that typically comes with taking a set.
But Northview did.
The Wildcats surged ahead of the Lady Giants, using the power of middle hitter McKenna Hall, for which Ross had no answer. Despite the early lead, Ross lost the next three sets to lose the match 3 sets to 1, 25-23, 9-25, 10-25, 21-25.
“I don’t know that we started out fast. I don’t know that either team did,” Ross coach Kari Shull said. “(We lacked) energy. And a lack of discipline.”
The Lady Giants’ offense stalled after the first set. Ross either didn’t get a clean hit of the ball or, if it did generate power on a hit, the aim was off.
“I keep talking about inches and centimeters with them that when we miss that roll shot to the center of the court by four inches, that’s the difference between a nice Libero, like Northview had, picking that ball up, versus scoring a point,” Shull said.
Northview had no such trouble finishing its points. With the 6-foot-2 Hall roaming on the Northview side of the court, the Wildcats pounded away at the Lady Giants. Hall’s biggest damage, however, came serving. She ripped off five consecutive aces in the second set to key an eight-point run to open up a 15-3 lead.
Northview ended the set with as many aces as Ross had points, nine.
Ross lost the third set in much the same fashion as the second before coming back in the fourth. Ross went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-5 lead in the fourth set. Northview, however, chipped away at the deficit.
Ross held a 21-19 lead until Northview regained the serve with Hall due up in the rotation. The Wildcats ripped off sixth straight points for the victory, with Hall picking up another ace along the way.
“She is one of the harder servers we’ve faced,” Shull said of Hall. “We don’t have anybody who can replicate a serve like that.”
Olivia DeRodes had nine kills while AnneMarie Moses had seven kills and three blocks. Jazmin Bulger had five kills and a pair of blocks and did everything she could to give her team a lift.
“Jazmin had a lot of nice hustle and effort in Set 3, so I left Jazmin Bulger in all the way around (in the fourth set) to provide some energy and effort,” Shull said. “I think she provided that to us, unfortunately we just didn’t get it.”
Aliza Quick had 15 assists while Izzy Held had nine. Lindsay Weickert led Ross with 19 digs with Sar Hryncie adding 10 and Maddison Baacke picking up six.
The loss drops Ross to 3-8 overall as the Lady Giants will return to the court Monday at 7:30 as they host Bowling Green.