Independence senior Maura Collins last week recorded the 1,000th dig of her four-year career and on Monday she reached another milestone as she collected her 1,000th kill in the Blue Devils’ 3-0 win over visiting West Geauga.
“It feels really good to accomplish 1,000 digs and kills, which has been a goal of mine since my freshman year,” Collins said. “My coaches have told me that not a lot of players have gotten both kills and digs, so it feels good to be one of those few.”
Collins finished the match with eight kills, nine digs and two service aces.
“We are all very proud of her and her accomplishments,” said Independence coach Megan Osysko. “It’s a true testament that hard work pays off.”
Collins now has 1,0007 kills and 1,044 digs in her career.
While Collins prefers to hang her hat on her defensive abilities, she also derives plenty of satisfaction from finishing off a point.
“It’s always defense first; we can’t get a kill unless we pass the ball,” she said. “After all the diving and scrappy play to keep it off the ground, to put the ball away feels great. The hitters get most of the credit, but when you’re a hitter and your defense has been all over the place keeping the play alive, you go up and put the ball away for them.”
Independence won the first set, 25-9, then finished off the Wolverines with back-to-back 25-11 scores to improve to 16-1 overall and 7-0 in conference play.
Kalli Screptock posted a team-high 12 kills, Kaitlin Richards led the Blue Devils with three blocks, Katie May recorded a team-high 37 assists and Maddy Bilinovic led Independence with 16 digs and four service aces.
The Blue Devils travel to Chagrin Falls on Thursday.
