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Ansonia
senior Sarah Berger (12) goes up for a kill during the Tigers
Cross County
Conference match against Tri-Village Tuesday. The Tigers
won, beating the Patriots 3-2.
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Ansonia tops
Tri-Village in CCC match
Ansonia Volleyball...
By George Starks
ANSONIA - It was a night that made Ansonia coach Jason Hemmelgarn smile
in the end. It was a night Tri-Village coach Jackie Barnes would rather
forget.
After splitting the first four games of the night, Ansonia showed a
little dominance in the deciding fifth game. Ansonia jumped out to a
early 7-3 lead to post a 15-7 win and a 3-2 Cross County Conference
victory.
“In this game, you have to be consistent,” said Hemmelgarn. “We had a
lot of stretches where our energy level came down and we didn’t play
the kind of volleyball we needed to play. It was the same with
Tri-Village. They played really well at times and they have a good
team. Finally in that fifth game, the girls put it all together and we
started to look good and play the way we wanted to.”
In the deciding game, it was senior Sarah Berger who stepped up and
took the bull by the horns. On several occasions, Berger was forced to
go head to head with Patriots senior Kayla Linkous, shutting her down.
“Our plan was to serve right at Linkous and make her play more balls,
trying to wear her down,” Hemmelgarn admitted. “That strategy wasn’t
working so we decided to go way from her and go after other girls.
Linkous is one of the best in the conference. In the last game, we
blocked her three or four times and I can’t give enough credit to
Sarah. And Katie Fisher with some of the big blocks in that game.”
After falling in the first game of the night to the Lady Patriots 25-14
and holding a commanding 16-7 lead in the second, Ansonia started to
scratch and claw, coming from behind to get a 25-22 victory.
“We were down 16-7 and really struggling with our rotation and I called
time,” said Hemmelgarn. “I told them to stop looking at the scoreboard
and always play the next point as if it were the last one. At that
point, they really dug in and started to battle.”
Tri-Village took the third game, 25-18 but fell in the fourth, 26-24,
forcing the fifth game.
“I told the girls before the start of the fifth game they had to make
all the hard work they did in the fourth to pay off,” Hemmelgarn said.
“They did exactly what they needed to do. We have six good seniors on
this team. They don’t care about stats and playing time. They just want
to go out there and play as a team.”
Patriots coach Jackie Barnes was not available for comment.
Ansonia 1-0 (CCC) will travel to Newton Thursday, while the Patriots
will play at Seton Catholic Friday.
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