By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Blockbuster kill shots, defenders diving headlong across the floor in desperate attempts to keep the ball in play — and often accomplishing the miraculous. Bang-bang stuff blocks, service aces that impossibly found an open space in a corner. That was App State Volleyball at the Holmes Center on Sept. 22, on Youth Team Night.
BONUS PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE (click on any image for slideshow mode)
And yet, on this night, visiting James Madison was all that and one notch more, ripping away a victory over the host Mountaineers in a 3-1 thriller, 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21. An estimated 700 fans got their money’s worth of top-notch volleyball thrills and spills.
SET ONE: JMU 25-22
The Dukes and the Mountaineers went point-for-point with each other early in the first set until JMU went on a 5-point run to take a 13-6 lead. Unfazed, App State fought back to tie the set at 13-13. In powering her App State team back, freshman middle blocker Maya Winterhoff rattled off three kills while fellow freshman libero Alyssa McBean recorded one of her two service aces on the night.
The Mountaineers couldn’t quite gain the advantage, however. They tied the Dukes again at 19-19, but dramatic kill shots by JMU’s Elizabeth Helmich, Annie Smith, Bre Reid, and Sophie Davis were too much for App State to overcome.
SET TWO: JMU 25-21
It became obvious that James Madison had gained some confidence with the first set win and they used that momentum to their advantage, jumping out to a 6-0 lead off consecutive, powerful kills by senior outside hitter Mitte Veldman, a stuff block by Veldman and fifth year senior middle blocker, Sophie Davis, and kills by Davis and a kill by freshman setter Rebecca Watkins.
The Mountaineers rallied after a timeout, but could never quite recover that opening point differential. They pulled within two on a service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Kenady Roper, at 20-18, but that was as close as they could get.
SET THREE: APP 25-19
App State head coach Sarah Rumely Noble said after the match that between the second and third sets the conversation was about attacking.
“When we went into the locker room at the break, we just talked about being assertive. Any time that we applied pressure from our serve or what we were doing offensively, we could feel them kind of step back a little bit. We kept that assertiveness up in the third but we just couldn’t maintain it in the fourth.”
The teams battled point for point in the third until the Mountaineers captured eight of nine points to gain separation at 10-7, a run that included three monster kills by junior outside hitter Lulu Ambrose. With even more kills off the arms of COVID-19 senior McCall Denny, Winterhoff and Ambrose, as well as timely blocks by Winterhoff and Ambrose, the Mountaineers marched out to a seemingly insurmountable 22-11 lead.
But JMU wasn’t quite done. On seven consecutive points scored off of stuff blocks (Davis, Watkins) and kills by Davis, Watkins and Julia McNeley, the Dukes closed to within 23-19. App State put an end to the run to win the set, 25-19, on service and setting errors by the Dukes.
SET FOUR: JMU 25-21
James Madison got their “mojo” back in the decisive fourth set, winning six of the first eight points en route to an early, 13-5 advantage the Mountaineers could never overcome. They narrowed the gap late in the set with blocks and kills by Winterhoff and Denny, as well as a service ace by Winterhoff that shrunk the deficit to a single point at 20-19, but the Dukes picked up four of the last five points, with Veldman’s kill nailing the match shut at the end.
JMU and APP go at it again on Saturday (Sept. 23), at 1 p.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center.
“Everything has got to be assertive, all of the time,” said Rumely Noble about her team’s next day work. “The exciting thing for us is how hard our team always works. Our kids are locked in. They believe in what we are doing. We didn’t execute our best tonight but when we are executing at our best we are going to be a really fun team to play against.”
SELECTED STAT LEADERS
Kills
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- JMU – Mitte Veldman, 25
- APP – McCall Denny, 12
- JMU – Sophie Davis, 12
- APP – Lulu Ambrose, 9
Assists
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- JMU – Rebecca Watkins, 50
- APP – Katie Cruise, 16
- APP – Sophie Cain, 14
Digs
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- APP – Kenady Roper, 16
- JMU- Mitte Veldman, 16
- JMU – Jaydyn Clemmer, 16
- APP – McCall Denny, 13
- JMU – Rebecca Watkins, 13
- JMU – Julia McNeley, 10
Blocks
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- APP – Maya Winterhoff, 7
- JMU – Sophie Davis, 5
- APP – Lauren Pledger, 4
- JMU – Rebecca Watkins, 4
- APP – McCall Denny, 3
- APP – Ava Leahy, 3
- APP – Delanie Grevengoed, 3
- JMU – Mitte Veldman, 3
BONUS PHOTOS
