Dolphins Overwhelm Lakers

In the 4th match of the middle school volleyball season, the Dolphins took on inter-county foe, the Mattamuskeet Lakers. In middle school volleyball the teams play 2 best out of 3 games. In the last game the Dolphins played in they were even with the Hatteras Hurricanes 1 game to 1. The match with the Lakers told a different story: the Dolphins were dominant.

In the first set of the first game the Dolphins had a great start right off the bat (or serve, I guess that’s another way of putting it for volleyball). Early in the set the Dolphins showed confidence while building their lead up. But for all the efforts the Dolphins showed, the Lakers matched them, evening it up at 11, and even taking a quick lead at 12 – 11. The thought of losing a set did not settle well with the ladies, sparking a run bringing the score to 20 – 14. The Dolphins would eventually win the set 25 – 17.

In this set the Dolphins showed their true authority over the Lakers, but it did not come at the very beginning as the Lakers took the lead 4 – 1. The Dolphins brought the score to 3 – 5, and this is where the most impressive feat that I have witnessed in volleyball took place. 8th grader Starr Ely scored 22 points in a row to win the set 25 – 5! This was remarkable and the fans knew it too, receiving shouts from the crowd “MVP”, which she definitely deserved. Scoring 22 points out of a 25 point match is unheard of, but for a Dolphin anything is possible! Coach Jason Wells said “She broke her own record that was 14, which is also very good.” The Dolphins won both sets and captured the first game.

In the second set the Dolphins continued to show their superiority over the Lakers. Right at the start of the set the Dolphins jumped out to a 12-0 lead. Mattamuskeet would have its little runs but the Dolphins crushed all of their hopes of winning as they pulled out of the set 25-18.

I missed the last set of the game due to cross country practice, but 8th grader Taylor Fuller told me that the Dolphins won the set somewhere around 25-13. I asked Taylor her thoughts about today’s game and she said “I think we played a good game, and we’re pretty focused. If at one point we were down we got our heads back in the game.”

I continued to ask her about the team’s progression since last year. “Our team has progressed a lot, the new 7th graders are very good, and we are going to work very hard to get back to where we were last year,” she said.

Last year the Dolphins were by far the best team in our conference and the ladies this year look like they are living up to that again. This year the ladies have won 3 games out of 4!  Go Dolphins!

Come out to cheer them on at their next home game on September 17th when they match up agains the Creswell Tigers!