Lady Bulldogs sweep past Happy Valley in straight sets

Published 2:57 pm Thursday, September 21, 2023

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STAR CORRESPONDENT

Hampton wanted to put on a good showing on Senior Night and they did with a straight set sweep of conference rival Happy Valley. The Lady Bulldogs (5-6 overall, 2-3 conference) won 25-14, 25-15, and 25-20 for a 3-0 victory.

“We had some good runs and Mallory Lamb is one of our best servers,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Megan Brannan said. “Communication is key in our game and we communicated well tonight. We work really hard and it paid off with a win tonight.”

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The first set saw HV (1-9 overall) keep it close early with an 8-7 lead, but Hampton went on a five-point run to take a 15-8 advantage. The Lady Warriors were able to close the gap to 16-13 and 17-14, but Hampton closed out the set with an eight-point run to take the first set.

In the second set, the Bulldogs had two runs with the last one being an 11-point run with Lamb serving up six service aces – including four in a row.

“I’m not really a directional server,” Lamb said. “I can do it but I just try to hit the ball hard. I really wanted us to play well tonight for the seniors and I think we did. We really came into this match with that on our minds.”

The ‘Dogs took the second set with ease, winning by 10 points and Lady Warriors head coach Brianna Nave said, “We are a very young team and young teams tend to struggle. Our record is not very good but they give good effort.”

Hampton had to battle to win the third set as HV did not let the ‘Dogs go on any long runs and the set went back and forth. Hampton took a 14-10 lead on a kill from Bella Fair and took an 18-12 advantage on a block-kill from Cloe Clark.

The teams continued to go back and forth and a kill from Trinity Bowers pulled HV to within 18-14, and Keira Reece had the next kill for HV to make it an 18-15 contest. Hampton scored the next three points for a 21-15 advantage.

For Hampton, Lamb finished with 10 service aces in the match with Clare Clark dishing out seven kills and Cloe Clark had five. For HV Dani Lingerfelt had five kills to lead her squad.

The seniors honored on this night were Cloe Clark, Brooklyn Adams, Mackenzie Thompson and Olivia Sarrett.