Dulaney junior Serafina Reckamp knew what was at stake when the Lions met longtime rival and host Hereford on Thursday night. The Lions had just dropped the third set of the match, and despite the fourth reaching overtime, Reckamp wanted to ensure her Lions ended things there.
The result was the seventh-ranked Lions sweating out a 25-13, 25-12, 16-25, 26-24 win. The victory over the No. 9 Bulls puts Dulaney in the driver’s seat in the Baltimore County Division I race.
“None of us like the feeling of losing, so I think we just wanted to get each other’s energy up,” Reckamp (53 assists for the match) said of the decisive set. “I think in the end we just wanted it more than they did.”
Hereford (3-2, 3-1), which had a decided height advantage on the scrappy Lions, was its own worst enemy in the first two sets. The Lions (6-0, 5-0) jumped out to leads in both, with the Bulls repeatedly being called for net violations when not committing service errors. The closest the Bulls could get was 17-10 on a Julliet Seitz kill midway through the first set.
After that point, Reckamp went on a four-point serving run and Dulaney used two kills by Cami Reed (23 kills for the match) to take the lead to 21-10. Kills by Kira Logvin-Moore and Mia Koska, and a serving ace by Reed closed out the first set, 25-13.
Things weren’t must better for the Bulls in the second. The Lions jumped out to a 14-3 lead and were never threatened in the set. Hereford did manage to cut the lead to 10, 20-10, but the Bulls could get no closer.
Hereford looked like a different team in the third set. Hereford used three service aces in four serves by Sophie Kefi to run out to 4-1 lead. Dulaney eventually tied the set at 12, but this time it was the Bulls who widened the lead. Hereford’s confidence began to show towards the end of the set, and the Bulls went on a 13-4 run to end the set, 25-16, and cut Dulaney’s match lead to 2-1.
The fourth set was also tight. The two teams were tied at 17 after a Logvin-Moore kill for Dulaney, but each time the Lions would get a lead, Hereford would respond. With the teams tied at 24, the Lions got a tip kill from Reckamp and Hereford was called for a double hit by the chair umpire for a 26-24 win for the set and 3-1 win for the match.
“Volleyball is all about serving and passing, and I haven’t seen a team yet that we’ve played that serves and passes better than we do,” Dulaney coach Cary Lyon said. “We have two good outsides in Cami [Reed] and Ellie [Leone], and they played well for us.”
Hereford coach Dave Schreiner said the Bulls were their own worst enemies in the first two sets.
“Too many mistakes,” Schreiner said, “especially in the first two [sets]. We didn’t pass the ball well, and when you can’t pass, you can’t set. When you play Dulaney, they aren’t going to give you anything, and they certainly didn’t tonight. Still, I hope we see them again later in the season.”
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