FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville High School volleyball team hosted Faith Academy High School Aug. 11 at Lions Gym in Fayetteville and won by a final score of 257, 28-26, 25-18.
After a really strong start to the match for the Lady Lions, Faith Academy bat tled back and made the next two sets close, but Fayette ville was able to hold off the come back with big points in crucial moments.
“They just kind of struggled with some serve-re- ceive in the beginning," said Fayetteville head volleyball coach Marcus Sodek. “They did better in the second and third set for sure. We made more mistakes in the second and third, but as far as serving, I think in the second set we had five errors. In the first set, we served pretty lights out. They struggled in the first set, did better in the second and third, and we kind of played a little sloppier, but it was a good first game."
Fayetteville senior Lainey Gromaski led the team with 15 kills and provided a nice spark on offense for the entire match. “I was also playing club, so I was getting harder reps against harder teams," Gromas ki said on her success as a senior. “I took my club experience over to here and make everyone have fun."
Fayetteville took a commanding 5-0 lead in the first set, which included back- to-back aces from junior Scotti Beseda. Another ace later in the set from junior Raelee Denham made it 11-4 and forced Faith Academy to call a timeout. Denham went on to record two more aces in a row, then the Lady Lions scored eight points in a row on a bunch of different kinds of points to win the set 25-7.
The second set was much closer as Faith Academy even took an early lead. After going back and forth until about midway through the set, two kills in a row from Fayetteville tied it at 12 and they would regain the lead on the next point with a tip from Gromaski. As Fayetteville held on to their lead by a few points later in the set, Faith Academy fought back and tied it at 23 on a ball out of bounds from Fayetteville. The set would go into extra points and two tip balls in a row from senior Aubree Graeter sealed it at 28-26.
The third set was close early as well, but Fayette ville was able to stretch their lead about midway through on back-to-back aces from senior Aubrey Muzny and a few more kills to make it 14-5. The Lady Lions kept a similar lead for the remainder of the set, even though Faith Academy
did do some climbing back and made it 22-18 in favor of Fayetteville on a ball in the net and two balls out of bounds.
A serve in the net and ball out of bounds from the Lady Knights put it at 24-18, then a tip ball from Gromaski won the set and match for Fayetteville 25-- 18.
