Lady Warriors show grit but fall to Patriots in 3 sets

Published 5:05 pm Wednesday, August 16, 2023

By Ron Marvel

Star Correspondent

Second-year Happy Valley Warriors Volleyball Coaches Brianna Mech and Hayley Wade have a long-term plan for Happy Valley Warriors Volleyball, but they know that it is going to take a while to get the program where they want it. The Lady Warriors showed a lot of heart Wednesday night when they battled an established team in the Sullivan East Patriots but eventually fell in three sets, 25-9, 25-7 and 25-12.

Senior Grace Shepherd played well in controlling the back line and is learning to communicate and lead the team, Jayla Remine had several digs and played great defense throughout while Danni Lingerfelt and secondary setter Maddie Poulter also had a strong game. On the net, Trinity Bowers and Shanice Gardner used their length to score several points in the contest. Coach Mech knows that her young team, with just one senior, is still trying to get their feet under them as they improve. “My hope this year is that our students continue to play hard and fight for every single point; they are willing to learn. I want them to get the confidence so we can compete against more established teams, “Right now is a growing and building time for our team; we are super young and only have one senior on the team,” Head Coach Mech shared.

The second set of the JV game was closest of the night with the Lady Warriors being up by as many as 7 points, but a few unforced errors coast them down the road. Aubrey Golden held serve for a good portion of the set with several aces while libero Aubrey Whitehead anchored down the backcourt. Maddie Poulter, who is splitting time between Varsity and JV, served as team captain for the JV.