ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- The veteran members of the Rocky River Swat Team were on their collective game, as the Pirates defeated the Elyria Catholic Panthers, 3-0, in a Senior Night contest Thursday.
Rocky River (9-9, 6-4 Great Lakes Conference West) prevailed, 25-17, 25-15, 25-20, after seniors Estella Giomini, Megan Lally, Harper Piguet, Taylor Spies, and Paige Waite were saluted in a pre-match ceremony. All five would figure prominently in the action after the opening whistle.
Sophomore Samantha Young (17 kills, four aces, six digs) and junior Madie Shoaf (seven kills) were solid, but the through line in River's seventh shutout of the season was knitted and threaded by the Class of 2022.
Estella Giomini clocked 36 assists on the evening. For the daughter of Scott and Lucia Giomini, the 12.0 assists per set marked her fourth-best average of the season and her highest in a match since Sept. 21.
Megan Lally registered five kills, three digs, and two block assists. The daughter of Sean and Lynn Lally piled up 12 kills in Rocky River's season sweep of the Panthers: Rocky River defeated EC, 3-0, in Elyria on Sept. 21. She now has multiple blocks in four matches this season.
Harper Piguet had a pair of digs and three block assists. The daughter of Matt and Brooke Piguet leads the Pirates in the latter category: Piguet has 41 total blocks on the season.
Taylor Spies had 11 digs against no dig errors on a night that saw the Pirates saddled with just 13 dig errors in all. The daughter of Bob and Kate Spies is closing in on her third 200-dig season; she has 687 for her career. Spies has 28 digs against just three errors over River's last two matches.
Paige Waite had 10 kills while hitting .363. The daughter of Jim and Holly has swatted her way to a .351 percentage across six matches since Sept. 23. As a team, Rocky River hit .238 against Elyria Catholic (10-11, 3-7).
Thursday's Senior Night match marked just River's second home tilt since Sept. 16. With five seniors leading the way, the Pirates made the most of their night on home hardwood.
On this night, it was a floor well defended. High fives all around.
by Skip Snow
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