Kirtland’s student section can be loud and intimidating, but it always creates an intense atmosphere.
Cardinal fed off that energy and cruised to a 3-0 sweep of the host Hornets on Tuesday.
“They had a cheering section of boys that were stomping their feet and making a lot of noise,” said Cardinal coach Karisca Chambers. “At first, the girls had that look on their faces like, ‘Oh boy.’ I told them to feed off of that and not let it get into their heads. I said to take that and go with it and that’s exactly what they did. Every time we’d get a kill or do something exciting they’d get into it. Our energy was really high.”
The Huskies won the first set 25-13 and never looked back. They cruised to 25-17 and 25-13 wins to close out the match.
“This is first time this season they all have played as a team and played strong,” Chambers said. “It wasn’t just one standout person here with all the stats. It was evenly spread out across the board.”
Cardinal did set a season-high with 18 service aces.
Caitlyn Lechene and Jordyn Schultz led the way with four aces each and Kaylee Klepper and Haley Adams both had three.
“That was our best serving game of the season,” Chambers said. “We had six girls with two or more aces.”
Maddie Bean contributed with 23 assists and two aces. Lechene also had 16 digs and nine kills and Schultz posted eight digs. Megan Zeigler added 14 digs and Sidney Cala had two aces.
“It was nicely spread out across the board,” Chambers said. “Everybody collectively did a nice job.”
Hanna Traggiai, who was recalled from the JV squad, drew praise for her work on Tuesday.
“She was our JV setter but we moved her up to varsity,” Chambers said. “She was playing right back and did a nice job defensively.”
The Huskies improved to 13-4 overall and 7-1 in the Chagrin Valley Conference. Cardinal hosts Hawken on Thursday.
