By: Joe Blystone
SWANTON (September 5, 2023) – There was an overabundance of hitting errors, muffed defensive assignments, and missed serves multiplied like rabbits.
But in the end Swanton senior Maddie Smith was the great stabilizer in the Bulldogs three set sweep over Montpelier, 25-20, 25-15 and 25-17.
“I didn’t think early on we got her the ball much,” longtime Bulldog coach Kyle Borer said regarding Smith. “But when we did, she was putting it away with a lot of success.”
“Later on, we switched the lineup just because we were getting the ball to the outside more, so we pushed her out there to the outside in the rotation. It seemed to make a little bit of a difference there.”
Jordyn Ramirez scored a pair of aces on a muff and then when the Loco back line let the sophomore’s serve fall between them to help Swanton grab an early 7-3 first set lead.
Montpelier fought back to tie on three Swanton miscues, Emily Manisaeng sideline shot and Aleigha Hillard’s ace at 8-8.
Smith scored three times from the left, including a smash that cut the corner of the back line, and Samantha Nelson scored back-to-back from the serve to push the Bulldogs in front 17-14.
The Locos closed to a point at 21-20 when Jada Uribes scored on a push and a Swanton attack went out but three straight Loco mistakes, one a missed serve then a pair of hitting errors, set up Mackenzie Secory’s kill to end the set.
The second set was much like the first. No less than six Swanton serving mishaps were countered by an equal number of Loco missed attacks.
A trio of Lexi Faber kills and three more from Smith had the Bulldogs up a point when Swanton rattled off nine straight to put it away.
Three more Montpelier hitting mistakes helped start the run, then a Smith kill, two floating aces from Lillyanna Valderas, Nelson’s second ball push and another Secory left side shot finished it up.
“We made too many unforced errors, missed too many serves,” Borer explained. “We weren’t communicating with each other, and we let too many balls drop and we didn’t make adjustments to what they were doing.”
“They played hard, we got good swings, and they were digging up everything and were aggressive when we gave them free balls. To their credit they took us out of some things.”
Montpelier stayed close in the third as Kelsie Bumb’s 1,000th assist set up Manisaeng to keep the Locos in contact at 10-9.
After a Bulldog shot went into the net, Faber rolled one over the tape and the Bulldogs expanded the lead from that point.
Again, the Locos committed a trio of mishits and again Smith hammered a shot through a block and Valderas nailed an ace to go with Peighton Manning’s solo block at the net for an 18-13 lead.
Two straight Uribes’ blocks and Manisaeng’s ace got the Locos back to 18-16 but Secory began a match ending run with a shot off a block and Smith ended the night with two more kills to boost the Bulldogs to 5-0 on the year.
Swanton d. Montpelier 25-20, 25-15, 25-17
Swanton (5-1) – Maddie Smith: 25/29, 14 kills; Alexa Faber: 26/29, 12 kills, 10 digs; Samantha Nelson: 92/94 setting, 31 assists; Lillyana Valderas: 23/23 serving, 4 aces, 20 digs
Montpelier (1-6) – Lyla Mahan: 12 digs; Kelsie Bumb: 10 digs, 14 assists; Emily Manisaeng: 9 kills
Junior Varsity: Swanton, 25-12, 25-15
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com