Indians Ace Senior Night, Sweep Elks For Fifth Win

By Megan Steimer

NORTH EAST - It was no ordinary game for the North East Indians this past Monday. Their match against county rival Elkton Golden Elks marked the second time in ten days the two teams have met, but it was especially meaningful as the Indians celebrated senior night with a 25-14, 2510, 25-20 victory where the four seniors on the squad not only started but shined.

“I was really happy for the seniors, first and foremost” said head coach Joe Burkhardt, “we had a couple of girls out tonight, so we had to do some rearranging to the line up and it worked out well.” It was business as usual for setter Rachel Mullins and middle Ginny Coker. The two connected on an attack out of the middle in the first set before freshman Ashley Ungarten eight-point service run, including a whopping six aces, brought her team out of a deficit to go up on the Elks 14-7. A few rotations later, Mullins entered the backrow and secured another five points, two of which were aces, to put North East up 23-11. Elkton was able to get the ball back for a chance to tack on a few points, but a service error gave the Indians a set one win.

Much like set one, Elkton jumped out to an early 3-2 lead behind an Amya Smith ace, but senior Ally Schaible knocked in three of her own to put her team up 7-3. Setter Sophie Camphausen found hitter Danielle Rogers for an Elks’ kill but the errors continued to creep in, giving North East the advantage. Schaible, who is typically the Indians’ libero, seized the opportunity to play in the front row for her senior night and knocked in two late kills, one of which was for the game two win.

“It was definitely new to me” said Schaible when asked how it felt to play front row, “I think I did pretty good, and I enjoyed it.” Burkhardt agreed, “I was very happy with Ally’s playing tonight. She’s usually our libero but we had her at outside tonight where she was able to get a couple of kills. It was awesome to see.”

Mullins again started off strong at the service line for set three, recording two aces to put the Indians up 4-0 early. The Elks continued to struggle on of- fense, but Rogers had an impressive block out of the middle to give Elkton the momentum they needed. Down 15-22, Smith stepped up to the service line and knocked in five crucial service points to keep her team in the game.

Nonetheless, the Indians didn’t let the Elks come any closer to spoiling senior night– recording a double block on the right side and then a Coker kill out of the middle to seal the deal for win number five. “I think getting comfortable with each other and just learning how to play as a team has led to our recent success” noted Coker. “I think our passing and hitting have also improved,” said senior Delaney Stanley. Whatever it may be, the Indians are rid- ing the high, winning three of their last four games. Mullins finished the night with five aces, 20 assists, and two kills while Coker knocked in three aces, one block, and a team high five kills. Schaible recorded four aces and three kills for her senior night while Ungarten had a game high eight aces at the service line. For the Elks, Camphausen concluded the evening with one ace, two assists, two digs, and two kills while Smith finished with two aces and four digs. As the regular season comes to a close, both teams face Harford County schools where the Indians hope to continue their late season surge while the Elks look to add a few more W’s to their win column. continued from B-1 dle before, she played really well,” Mussaw said. “Toward the end of the game, she kind of lost it a little bit, but having never played that position before, that’s totally acceptable in my eyes.”