St. Paul's School for Girls got over its first obstacle in defense of its Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference volleyball title with a 3-1 victory over visiting Archbishop Spalding yesterday.
The match pitted the last two unbeaten teams in the A Conference and was a possible preview of the postseason tournament championship Nov. 4 at Goucher College.
No. 5 St. Paul's beat No. 6 Spalding, 25-15, 27-25, 15-25, 25-22.
The Gators nearly swept.
"After the first two games, we were pretty sure we were going to win and we relaxed," said St. Paul's 6-foot-3 sophomore Bailey Webster, who tied senior Michelle Bruno for the team high in kills (15).
"And then our passes weren't going right and [that] made it harder to win the third game."
Frequently overpowering the Cavaliers with their strong frontcourt, the Gators improved to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Spalding fell to 11-2 and 5-1.
"I do, I do," answered St. Paul's coach Kelli Wilkinson, when asked whether she expected to see the Cavaliers again in the playoffs.
"That could be an awesome match. They're very well-coached and a great competitive team."
The difference appeared to be at the net, where Webster and the 5-8 Bruno were followed in kills by juniors Jillan Unitas and Bailey Griswold, who had 10 and six kills, respectively.
Webster also had four solo blocks and three block-assists, and sophomore setter Rachel Kelley, who Wilkinson says "is not flashy, but so consistent," had a match-high 43 assists.
Colleen Seeba had a match-high 18 kills for Spalding. Setter Brittany Born dished out 27 assists and was 13-for-14 for the Cavaliers. Kelly Galligan was 18-for-18 serving with one ace.
"We had trouble serve-receiving," Spalding coach Scott Rombach said.
"You have games you pass well and games when you don't."
pat.omalley@baltsun.com
Girls soccer
No. 5 John Carroll 2, No. 11 Eastern Tech 0 -- Senior Melissa Gomes had a goal and an assist as the Patriots (11-2-1) scored both goals in the second half to beat the host Mavericks (6-3-1).
