Lady Bulldogs sweep past Happy Valley in straight sets
Published 2:57 pm Thursday, September 21, 2023
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Hampton Bulldog volleyball team honored their seniors prior to the start of the conference match with cross-county rivals the Lady Warriors from Happy Valley on Tuesday evening in the Hampton Elementary gym. The 2023 season seniors are (from left): Olivia Sarre tt (15), Mackenzie Thompson (12), Brooklyn Adams (11) and Cloe Clark (10).
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Hampton Bulldog volleyball team honored their seniors prior to the start of the conference match with cross-county rivals the Lady Warriors from Happy Valley on Tuesday evening in the Hampton Elementary gym. The 2023 season seniors are (from left): Olivia Sarre tt (15), Mackenzie Thompson (12), Brooklyn Adams (11) and Cloe Clark (10).
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog Volleyball Senior Mackenzie Thompson (12) and family.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog Volleyball Senior Olivia Sarrett (15) and family.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog Volleyball Senior Cloe Clark (10) and family.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog Volleyball Senior Brooklyn Adams (11) and family.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Fans of the Hampton Bulldog volleyball team make some noise just prior to the start of the match with Happy Valley on Tuesday evening.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog Clare Clark (14) elevates above the net to drop a dink shot in on Happy Valley in game one Tuesday evening.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Lady Bulldog senior Olivia Sarrett (15) launches a jump serve against the Lady Warriors in game one.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Grace Shepherd (1) and Aubree Whitehead (2) nearly collide as they both go for a return shot early in the first game against the Lady Bulldogs.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Shaniece Gardner’s (12) spike is deflected by the net as the Lady Bulldogs Cloe Clark (10) goes up for the block.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Shaniece Gardner (12) goes vertical to try and block a return by the Lady Bulldogs Abigail Kelly in the first game of the match Tuesday evening.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Dani Lingerfelt (14) serves a hot shot as Happy Valley tries to come back while down during the first game of their match with Hampton Tuesday evening.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Bulldogs celebrate their game one victory 25-14 over the Happy Valley. Hampton went on to defeat the Lady Warriors 3-0 Tuesday evening.
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.”
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.