PARMA, Ohio – The Pirates and Invaders clanked swords and exchanged cannon fire in an all-out battle on Monday evening. And the host Normandy Invaders prevailed, 3-2 (19-25, 25-17, 16-25, 26-24, 13-15), in the Great Lakes Conference match.
A resilient Normandy squad struck for wins in the first and third sets on the night and then battled back after Rocky River won game No. 4, 26-24. The Pirates hit .130 and were tagged with 43 dig errors. Regarding the latter, River’s 8.6 errors per set marked the second-most they’ve had in a match this season.
Individually, the Pirates were led by Amanda Franz (22
digs), Taylor Spies (46 assists, 18 digs), Emily Stanciu (18 kills, 14 digs)
and Paige Waite (17 kills, seven blocks). Junior Molly Sheridan helped the
cause with 12 digs against just two errors. Sheridan also garnered four kills.
Paige Waite’s seven blocks (five solo, two assists) marked her single-match career best.
River had been 9-0 against the Invaders since the start of
GLC play in 2015. That included a 3-0 home win over Normandy on Aug. 20 of this
season. In that contest, the two sides were separated by just 10 aggregate
points over the three sets.
Rocky River (11-6, 9-3 GLC) is slated to play Bay on Tuesday
(Rocky River Gymnasium, 7 p.m.).