PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
BATTLE OF THE PANTHERS … Stryker’s Abby Oberlin goes for a kill against two Delta blockers.
DELTA SENIOR … Ellie Martinez sets a teammate for a hitting attempt in Saturday’s nonleague match with Stryker.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (September 6, 2025) – Can we all yell in unison…OOUUTTT! Again? OOUUTTT! And one more time for emphasis…OOUUTTT!
That was the theme for much of the day, as attacks from both Stryker and Delta went awry again and again.
What Stryker got, besides a lot of points from miscues, was a big performance from Aubrey Clemens as Stryker broke a three-game losing streak with a 25-21, 25-15 and 25-20 straight set victory over Delta.
“A lot of good things happened today,” Stryker coach Ally Meade expressed. “We talked a lot about our mental game and today I really thought we did some good things, how to work our way out of a tie or when we are down a couple of points and work our way back and finish the game.”
Offense on both sides was at a minimum in the first set. Keagyn Gillen had a deep two-hand push along with an emphatic swat from the middle, along with a Willa Rosene block to help Delta to a 7-4 lead.
Allie Ruffer’s crossing shot brought Stryker back within 8-6 where the barrage of “out’ shots began. Five straight shots or serves from Delta went OB and Stryker gained an 11-9 advantage.
Ruffer and Clemens each got a kill to make it 14-11 before six more errors around Anna Donovan’s high-flying bomb from the left extended the Stryker gap to 21-12.
Just that quick it was Stryker who couldn’t find a shot inbounds and coupled with a block and two more kills by Rosene, Delta clawed back to within 24-21 before a bad serve ended the set.
The second set started out as if both teams found a groove. Three shots from Clemens were countered by two from Claire Bates and a pair of Mackenzie Clapp aces before an ace from Bates left the teams deadlocked at 10-10.
Once again a myriad of hitting mistakes happened with Stryker being the beneficiary to take a 16-10 lead off six consecutive errors created by long rallies.
“We’re scrappy,” Meade exclaimed when she talked about digging up numerous attacks from Delta’s big hitters.
“We are in the mindset that nothing hits the floor without a body going after it. The girls have been just working very hard on defending our side of the floor and going after everything we possibly can.”
Clemens took over from that point, sticking three shots on target and sending back a Delta attack with a resounding block for a 23-15 margin.
“She is a force to be reckoned with when she wants to be,” Meade said. “She has been working on when she gets the ball really putting it down, being smart where she is tipping it or placing a shot.
She has been putting in a lot of work and when the ball goes to her it’s a lot of reassurance that she will probably do something good with it.”
Abigail Oberlin took it the rest of the way with a two-hand push, and an ace to capture the second set. Clemens, Oberlin and Khloe Goebel all had early kill shots in the third set to give Stryker a 9-6 advantage.
Bates and Gillen offset that spread to knot the set 9-9. A number of misses on both sides left Stryker with a 12-10 lead but two shots from Rosene and Bates” bullet from the right side put Delta up 15-14.
Donovan’s middle shot and Oberlin’s ace helped Stryker go ahead 19-15. Four bad Stryker attacks followed by Rosene’s kill put Delta ahead 20-19.
That’s when Stryker did a quick 180 as Donovan busted one from the right side for a 20-20 tie, then it was Aubrey Clemens time.
The junior hitter scored on a one hand punch into a hole on the middle of the Delta defense, then nailed a putback of an overpass.
After a Delta attack went wide, Clemens ripped one from the middle before the match ended on a Delta mishit.
Stryker is now 4-5 on the year while Delta fell to 2-7.