P.K. Yonge Volleyball’s Hot Start Continues with Sweep of Hawthorne
After coming off a 3-2 loss to Eastside Tuesday night, Hawthorne volleyball looked to hold their own again against P.K. Yonge, and coach Vanessa Gillman feels the team did just that Thursday night.
However, the Hornets were washed away, 3-0, against the Blue Wave.
While the first set ended close, 25-19, the Blue Wave widened the gap in the second set, 25-17, and finished the game in the third, 25-22.
“I’m very pleased with how the girls played,” Gillman said. “Sucks we lost, but how they played and have progressed from last year to this year is substantial.”
Hawthorne went 0-24 last season. This season, the team has forced every opponent excluding P.K. Yonge to five sets during a 1-4 start.
On the other side, P.K. Yonge improved to a 4-0 record Thursday, its best start since 2017, before dropping two of three games in Saturday’s tournament.
“I’m hoping from this win, we can build on momentum, but still keep that underdog mentality,” Blue Wave coach Chancie Vice said.
P.K. Yonge’s outside hitter Ruby Hampton starred, leading her team in kills. Despite this success, Hampton felt one of her highlights from the night was her defensive play.
“Our practices leading up to this we have a job that each of us wanted to do,” she said. “I think that I did my job really well, which was serve-receive and coverage.”
Hampton was not alone in her effort for the win. Collectively, P.K. offensively hit over .300.
“I was really proud of the way that we controlled our game,” Vice said. “We didn’t let our opponent dictate the way we showed up.”
After this game, Gillman intends to improve the team’s confidence against stronger opponents such as P.K. Yonge. The two teams will face each other one more time for their last game of the regular season on Oct. 8.
“I believe it was a mental thing for them. I think they just got scared. P.K. is a big school,” Gillman said. “They’re known for having amazing athletes, which all of their girls are. So I think just working on encouraging themselves, confidence and mentality going through.”
Specifically following Thursday’s performance, Vice is looking to improve their serves and limit obvious weaknesses from opponents. One of her key strategies is putting in the work off the court.
“We’re having a solid season because we’re doing a lot of learning, as well,” Vice said. “We have hours worth of film before practice. So [Friday] when we break down film, being able to see how other teams are gonna scout us and look at our weaknesses and turn those weaknesses into strengths.”
Hawthorne will face Keystone Heights Monday night at 6:30 p.m., while P.K. Yonge lost to Oak Hall 2-1 on Saturday. The Blue Wave conquered North Florida Christian 2-0 in the same tournament Saturday, but ended the day with a loss to Newberry, 2-0.
Category: Hawthorne High School, High School Sports, PK Yonge High School
