Middletown follows slogan and gets past Hubs

September 17, 2003|by JACK HILL III

"Get your game face on."

That is the slogan that is found on the back of the warm-up T-shirts for the Middletown Knights' volleyball team.

The Knights were able to get their game face on and that helped them to pull out a close victory over the North Hagerstown Hubs, 25-20, 17-25, 27-25, 15-25 and 15-10 on Tuesday night in a Monocacy Valley Athletic League volleyball match.

The fifth game was tied at 3-3 before the Knights outscored the Hubs 12-7 the remainder of the contest.

Jill Martin served for the final three points and Allison Jarkey got a game-ending stuffed block to enable Middletown (2-1 overall, 1-0 MVAL) to seal its match victory over North Hagerstown (4-2 overall, 0-1 MVAL).

"We were able to pass better in the fifth game and we were able to get the serve on our side," Middletown coach Jaime Pryor said. "Those were the keys to our victory in the fifth game. This would make a nice matchup in November."

Junior setter Kristin Young helped to set up Middletown's offense with 27 assists. Claire Ciakowski chalked up 14 service points, while Jarkey added 12 points for the Knights.

Amanda Lewis tallied 11 points and Martin had nine points for Middletown. Jarkey added 12 kills and five blocks, Lewis got six kills and Ciakowski had eight digs.

"We did a good job of coming back, but lacked focus to stay on top," North Hagerstown coach Corry Eagler said. "We did a good job of hustling and stayed pretty scrappy. I expect us to pick things up now that we know how we can play. Middletown is a good team and they are probably the toughest team that we have played so far this year. But we were pretty evenly-matched tonight."

Junior outside hitter Ariel Kifer collected 22 service points, 27 digs, six aces and six kills for North Hagerstown.

Tracy Hinkle tallied 13 service points, while Brooke Ward got 10 points for the Hubs. Katie Plume added 28 digs and six kills, while Sarah Staley had 11 assists for North Hagerstown.

Young scored six straight points to enable Middletown come from behind and take the lead for good at 20-18 during the first game.

Kifer came through with 11 consecutive points during the second game to help North Hagerstown build a 17-6 lead.

"North definitely served us off of the court," Pryor said. "Their serving kept us from getting into our offense for a while. But it was nice to see us get into our offense later in the match."

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