Matthew Lounsberry mlounsberry@hillsdale.net mlounsberryHDN

READING Jonesville and Camden-Frontier traveled to Reading on Tuesday night for a three-team match between local Hillsdale County schools.

The Comets came out the big winners, going 2-0.

Today, I was really impressed with the energy level and the [communication] amongst the players in the match and before [each] serve, said Jonesville coach Sydney Barrett. Thats something we talked a lot about at practice yesterday.

Jonesville opened the night against Camden-Frontier, and had their hands full with the Redskins.

Camden-Frontier opened the match with a 6-4 lead before a 9-4 run gave the Comets a 13-10 advantage. Following a Redskin timeout, Camden-Frontier battled back to force ties at 16, 19, 20 and 21 before Jonesville scored the final four points to take Game 1.

Camden gets so many balls up in their defense. They hustle, they dont let anything hit the floor, theyre smart and they know where to place the ball, Barrett said.

Game 2 provided another back-and-forth affair. The Comets grabbed an early 6-4 lead, but the teams played to ties at 7, 10, 14, and 15.

Jonesville rallied to take a 20-17 lead and never gave it up, winning 25-20 to take the match.

I told them, Defense is going to win the match. Camden was going to take points from us, they earned a lot of points as well. We needed to be ready on defense, Barrett said.

Camden-Frontier showed that they could play with the older Comet squad, but couldnt put together enough runs to finish Jonesville off.

One thing weve been working on is our consistency. In our Jonesville game, we just had way more mistakes than they had, said Redskins coach Dawn Follis.

Jonesville was hitting in, and making us make the play. They werent all kills, but we were making our own mistakes.

After dispatching Camden-Frontier, the Comets turned their attention to Reading, grabbing an early 8-1 lead in Game 1. Jonesville extended their lead to 17-5, forcing the Rangers into a timeout.

When we went up against Jonesville, we looked like deer in headlights, said Reading coach Nicole Bailey.

The Rangers were unable to grab any momentum, and Jonesville took the opening game by a 25-9 final score.

In the encore, Reading seemed to settle in a bit, grabbing a 10-7 lead. However, the Comets scored five straight points to take a 12-10 lead, and would never give up the advantage, cruising to a 25-13 win.

Barrett credited her seven seniors with helping her team get off to a strong start so far this season.

The group of seniors are all really exceptional leaders. I could have them all be captains. I cant have seven captains, but I could. Thats a good problem to have, she said.

They give a ton of feedback, so if theres a new face on the floor, theyre so good about explaining things. Theyre just really great leaders, they want to win and theyre sharing that love with the underclassmen, so thats really exciting.

Middle hitter Samantha Dunn led Jonesville with 11 kills, converting over 75 percent of her attempts. Outside hitter Hanna Purdy added 10 kills and 18 digs.

Koryn Playford had a solid performance on the outside with eight kills and 11 digs. Libero Lauren Mains led the team in digs with 21, while setter Teya Nichols had a strong night with 20 assists.

We passed pretty well, so we could run our middle a lot. Sam and Amber [Gordon] both got a lot of attempts in the middle and a lot of kills. That opens up the outside, and that played a huge role tonight, Barrett said.

When we pass well, were going to be able to spread the offense out. Teya did a nice job of that tonight.

Camden-Frontier and Reading squared off in the final match of the day, with the Redskins sweeping the Rangers 2-0.

In the opener, the teams were deadlocked early, with ties at 7-7, 10-10 and 13-13. Camden-Frontier then seized momentum, finishing Game 1 with a 12-6 run for a 25-19 win.

I spent a lot of time in timeouts saying, Yes, youve made mistakes, but how are you going to overcome them? We all make mistakes, we have to find a way to overcome them, Bailey said.

Against Camden, I thought we played with a little more confidence.

The Redskins got off to a quicker start in Game 2, seizing a 6-1 advantage early. Reading was unable to recover, as the lead grew to 11-6, 15-9 and 21-13 before Camden-Frontier put the Rangers away, 25-15.

Were still working on maturity in a lot of our positions. I know the end of the season will be very different than the beginning of the season, Follis said. They have the talent, its just that consistency to to it repetitively.

Camden-Frontier was led by sophomore Jordan Stump, who finished with 15 assists and 15 kills. Fellow sophomores Frances Churchwell (25 digs) and Alicia Fackler (18 assists) also made big contributions.

Even though they are sophomores, they do bring a lot of experience, Follis said. A lot of my team plays club all the time. Yes, theyre young, but I expect a lot out of them because theyve played together for so long.

The Redskins also got a boost from Hillsdale Academy transfer Brooklyn Gravel, who finished with 13 kills and six aces.

Shes got height, shes got hitting and she can pass. So, shes got the skills all the way around, Follis said. Shes had a ball in her hand for [most] of her life. When you have a 510 person walk in whos had a ball in her hand their whole life, you let them in.

She has played with a core of my team [in club volleyball] almost more than some of my regular players have played with them. With her walking on to my court, theres four of them who have played together a lot.

Rounding out the statistical impact for Camden-Frontier was Maddie Vondron with 9 kills, Marin Page with five kills and Layne Cooney with five kills.

In past years, we usually just had a couple [hitters], Follis said, noting that the Redskins were able to spread the offense around. This year I have five hitters that we can go to. Weve got more height than weve had in the past.

All three schools will travel to Jonesville on Saturday for the annual Sue Carlile tournament.

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Comets, Redskins travel to Reading - The Hillsdale Daily News