Sectional Volleyball Tournament

Royals Begin Tournament Play

By: Todd Enders, "Royal Times"

The Lady Royals (15-7) opened sectional play by hosting a volleyball match on its own court. The Royals were able to host the sectional tournament because of their higher number 3 seed. This was a major advantage for the Royals on Wednesday evening as they defeated the, 11th seed, Gibsonburg Golden Bears (14-8) in four sets, 20-25, 25-9,25-18, 25-23.

The Royals had some difficulty in match one where it appeared they were not quite ready for the scrappy Golden Bears. The Royals committed 10 errors during the set finally giving Gibsonburg the lead at 11-10, and Gibsonburg never looked back. Winning the set, 25-20.

Coach Hurles team meeting at the end of set one must have finally got the girls ready to play in set two of the match. The Royals, Jade Stuckman, ran off the first 13 points of set 2, taking a 13-0 lead before allowing Gibsonburg to score. Wynford never looked back taking the match 25-9. Coach Hurles said, "We were definitely more aggressive during set two and hit our zones better than in set one."

The Golden Bears were not going to give up easily in the last two sets. Again, Wynford got off to a quick start with Stuckman's serving, taking an early 5-0 lead. As both teams traded points during the set, the Royals managed to put the Golden Bears away, 25-18. It looked as if the Royals were going to make the night interesting by allowing Gibsonburg to take the match into a fifth set. Gibsonburg got off to an early 7-4 lead before Wynford tied the game at 7. The set went back and forth ending up tied again at 17. At this point, the Royals decided enough was enough and finished off the Golden Bears, 25-23.

The Royals were lead by Alyssa Harrer's 18 kills, and Jade Stuckman's excellent serving where she was 26 of 27 for the Royals. Wynford host Castalia Margaretta, 6th seed, in the sectional finals starting at 6:00 pm.