Blazers' tandem pins Warriors

November 10, 2009|By JACK HILL III/Staff Correspondent

CLEAR SPRING -- Megan Micco and Lily Pinkham have had a lot of success playing together.

The Clear Spring duo teamed up to win their age-group title in the Pottstown (Pa.) Rumble for the second time in three years this summer. They also went 9-0 to win the 2-on-2 Juniors 16U division, one of 502 teams in the largest grass volleyball tournament on the East Coast.

Now, Micco and Pinkham led Clear Spring to an 11-3 record and a second-place finish in the MVAL Antietam. The success continued on Monday, as the pair helped the Blazers to a 25-10, 25-23, 25-16 sweep of Boonsboro in a Maryland Class 1A West quarterfinal.

Micco had 30 assists, 14 service points, 12 digs and four aces for the Blazers (12-3), who will travel to play Smithsburg (15-0) in the West semifinals on Wednesday.

"My goal for serving was to keep it in and keep it hard," Micco said. "I think the passing was really good and that helped me to get as many assists as I did. And of course, Lily is always there waiting for me to set her. I know I can always depend on Lily if I get into a rut."

Pinkham added 13 kills, 11 service points and three aces for the Blazers.

"The defense was the key to the win tonight," Pinkham said. "I just think it's all Megan. She gets it up there all the time and then I am able to finish it. I'm really proud of the team for the way that they did so well and played together."

Lindsay Lacy had 16 digs and eight kills, Hannah House added six kills and Damara McDonough had nine service points for Clear Spring.

"I thought our passing was quite on," Clear Spring coach Kim Malphurs said. "It was much improved. I thought we served very well. It was a very aggressive service game. I thought the girls talked pretty good and played well tonight as a team. There was a lot of energy out there. I just like our girls coming together as a team."

Rebecca Demers led Boonsboro (7-8) with 14 assists, seven service points and six digs for Boonsboro. Tiffany Rohrer added 11 digs, Macy Fuscsick had 10 digs and Alison Griffith got eight kills for the Warriors.

"I have got to give Clear Spring credit," Boonsboro coach Andrea Parry said. "They just had some tough serves. We struggled from the start with our serve-receive game, which obviously played a huge part. We have a very talented group of girls with a lot of heart."

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