ROCKY RIVER. Ohio -- The Rocky River Pirates defeated the Normandy Invaders, 3-1, in a Thursday night Great Lakes Conference match at Rocky River Gymnasium.

River swatters excelled on the night, posting a .212 attack percentage in a match won by the Pirates with scores of 25-19, 15-25, 25-17, 25-23. The late-set conquests were impressive given the Maroon & White had been defeated by the Invaders, 3-1, in a hard-fought, season-opening match on Aug. 25.

Junior Paige Waite hit .333 and notched a team-high 13 kills on Thursday. Waite led a trio of Pirates hitting doubles figures in kills (Samantha Young 12, Austoria Miller 11). Emily Slyman collected 39 assists on the evening. Slyman also had a dozen digs against no errors in that department. 

The Pirates' service game was a double-edged sword. Rocky River had nine aces but was tagged with 16 service miscues. Young belted her way to five aces on the night.

Other notable performances were logged by Liszeski (15 digs, two aces) and Madie Shoaf (four kills, three blocks).

Peg Thursday's rematch as a considerable improvement for the Double-R front court: Rocky River hit .062 in their opening-night loss to Normandy. The Pirates and Invaders have now split four matches over the last two seasons.

by Skip Snow

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