St. Joseph’s Academy took the first two sets against St. Michael before the Warriors fought back.
The Warriors ripped off a 6-0 set to take a 15-12 lead. Redstickers coach Donna Pixley called a timeout and continued to reinforce what she’s asked of her team.
“I asked them to just be nasty,” Pixley said. “I want them to be nasty competitors and get after it and play to win.”
St. Joseph’s (15-15) showed its nastiness, outscoring St. Michael 13-7 down the stretch to win the set 25-22 to complete a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-22) on Tuesday night in St. Joseph’s final home match of the regular season.
“I think we played super tentative a lot throughout the year, afraid to lose, and when a team would come at us, we would just kind of cower,” Pixley said. “We’re just like, ‘Hey, whatever, let’s go get it,’ you know?”
The Redstickers began their third-set comeback after Emmy Graves smacked a kill to end St. Michael’s run. Three St. Michael errors and a Graves ace put St. Joseph’s in front. The two sides traded leads before a double hit put St. Joseph’s up 23-21.
After an errant hit, Audrey Harrison tipped the ball into an open space on the court to put the Redstickers one point away from a win. Brynne Chapoton served match point, and St. Michael failed to return it to end the match.
Harrison led St. Joseph’s in kills with 15. Jules Lawrence added eight kills. Graves totaled six kills and two aces. Camille Fremin had 17 assists.
“I was just trying to keep a positive mindset,” Harrison said. “Just go hard, go in hard.”
St. Joseph’s opened the match with five straight points. St. Michael battled back to tie it at five points apiece. The Redstickers ripped off a 6-0 run, started by a Harrison kill to take a 13-10 lead. The lead stretched to six points later in the set after consecutive blocks by Graves.
St. Michael (19-15) trimmed the deficit to two points late, but Graves knocked the ball to an open spot on the court to close out the first set.
“That’s something that we’ve kind of struggled with all season and just trying to keep our mental fortitude,” Pixley said. “We just had to respond when they got theirs, and they did. We just kept coming back.”
The two sides traded the lead again in the second set. St. Michael held a 15-14 lead before four kills by Harrison put St. Joseph’s up 22-16. The Warriors responded with a 6-1 run to make it 23-22. Lawrence ended the run with a kill, and a St. Michael error gave St. Joseph’s a 2-0 lead.
St. Joseph’s won the third set for the sweep.
“I thought it’s the most consistent that we’ve played,” Pixley said. “We got a lot of consistent passing from everybody. We played great defense, kept the ball off the floor, and then our hitters executed when they needed to.”
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