KIRTLAND—For a team that didn’t have much time in the preseason to practice together, the Kirtland Hornets sure are playing well.
The Hornets increased their winning streak to four games with a 3-1 victory over visiting Chardon on Wednesday.
“It’s a huge win for us,” said Kirtland coach Bob Schenosky. “As I mentioned before, the day before the season was our first day of getting the whole team together, so what I’m seeing out of them is just continued growth. The way they played together was amazing.”
Kirtland won the first set 25-23 then fell to the Hilltoppers, 25-22, in the second. The Hornets pulled finished off Chardon with 25-20 and 25-18 wins in the third and fourth games to improve to 5-1 overall.
“I think this is a big point of change for our team,” Schenosky said. “They now believe in who they are and what they’re capable of. It was just getting them to play together is what it really amounted to. We’re starting to see that. They know where the other person is going to be. You’re not seeing balls drop. Everybody is picking each other up; they know where the sets need to be. I like what I see.”
Katherine Skrbis led the Hornets with 11 kills and also contributed with 10 digs and five service aces. Krista Robejsek added eight kills and six blocks and Lilly Kelemen had five kills and seven blocks.
“I thought our middles did a phenomenal job,” Schenosky said. “Krista was pounding the ball straight down. She had a couple of hits well inside the 10-foot line. Lilly had one that actually went straight down and hit off their middle hitter. I thought they did a great job in the middle.”
Anna Shuppe pitched in with seven kills, 14 assists, four aces and two blocks while Abby Ruckel finished with 16 assists, four digs, and three kills. Elise Frazee recorded a team-high 21 digs and had two service aces.
“The back row played terrific,” Schenosky said. “The setters did a great job. Everybody hustled. I thought our hitters dominated the net and our middles did a terrific job, both hitting and blocking, and our strong side hitters did a great job. It was just an all-around great effort by everybody that was in.”
Emma Bartholomew came off the bench to record 10 digs and two service aces, but it was her serving that provided the Hornets with some momentum in the third and fourth sets.
“Emma is great,” Schenosky said. “She’s one of our captains and a great part of the team. She’s the one girl that I can always count on coming off cold off the bench and making the serve. The bottom drops out of it and sometimes she gets some side movement on it as well. I can count on her and I know she’s going to give everything on the court. She made some digs in Game 4 that were just amazing. She hit the floor flying forward, got the ball up, perfect pass up to the setter and we got both of them down for the kill. Her all-around performance in the back I thought was great.”
