Delta’s Darian Elendt, left, fires down the middle for a Panther point in Tuesday’s NWOAL contest against Evergreen. The Panthers went on to sweep the Vikings 28-26, 25-17, 25-21.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
Bailie Sutter of Evergreen sets one up for a teammate on Tuesday at Delta.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
Delta’s Kinsey Finnen records a dig during the match.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
Delta was already one up on Evergreen heading into their NWOAL match when Viking star Lindsay Carr went down with a knee injury last Saturday.
Combine that with a full serving of Mary Miller at the net along with some controversial calls that went the Panthers way added up to a 28-26, 25-17 and 25-21 win that was the first for the Panthers over Evergreen in many moons.
“I really don’t know when the last time was,” said Delta coach Kelly Finnen. “But it’s been quite a few years.”
“Mary Miller definitely was dominating at the net and shut down their hitting which forced them into a lot of tipping so she definitely shut down their hitters.”
After Lexie Shipman and Bailie Sutter combined for a pair of blocks to help Evergreen take an early first set lead, Miller caught fire.
Two solo blocks and a resounding smash from the middle later, and the Panthers had caught the Vikings at 6-6.
Alyssa Noe’s right to left cross gave Evergreen an 8-6 lead but Kinsey Finnen took over from there, scoring three times from the left side to put Delta on top 11-10.
Sutter’s right side hit and Noe’s ace got the Vikings up a pair and Lexie Truckor’s ace along with Kori Kreuz’ block doubled that lead at 20-16.
But Miller and Finnen scored the next five Panther points to knot the score at 21 all.
“Kinsey has been very consistent the last four matches,” said Finnen about her daughter who is a junior. “She’s led us in attacks and been playing well along with Mary at the net.”
The teams alternated points to make it 24-24 before Emily Clifton scored from the left side for Delta, but Shipman retaliated from the right to bring the Vikings back to even.
After the Panthers hit a shot out, Miller’s fourth block of the set tied the score at 26 before the first of a number of questionable to poor calls reared up.
A Panther attack went out with no visible change of direction, however, the up official said that a Viking player had contacted the ball on a block attempt.
After a lengthy discussion the point and ball were awarded to Delta where an Evergreen attack went out to end the set.
“There’s always controversial calls in a volleyball match and some nights you’re on the upside of those calls, and other nights well, you’re not,” said Finnen.
Miller’s tip, block and push to the back line broke open a tight second set to give Delta an 8-5 lead, but Shipman brought the Vikings back to tie at 13.
A serve into the net and two more Miller points at the net forced Viking coach Kelsey Wulf to call timeout.
However, with the Vikings off the floor and the down official at the scorers table recording the timeout, the Panthers served the ball and the up official gave the point to Delta when it landed inbounds, causing absolute chaos in an already very raucous Panther gymnasium and set the tone for the rest of the match.
After a long discussion the point was taken off the board. But, a bad attack still gave Delta a four point lead.
Finnen kept the advantage at four before she…or the line judge…planted the dagger in the second set when her next attack was ruled in although to the person with average eyesight it looked over a foot long.
“I wasn’t at that end so I didn’t see it,” coach Finnen said.
“Game one we lost the momentum,” said Viking coach Kelsey Wulf. “They blocked us big time and I will give them credit for that. Game two unfortunately when refs dictate the game – that’s why we lost. We had a bad line call back here on top of the up official. Game three on the other hand we played with no intensity. We played flat and Delta played better than us. Game two was unfortunately dictated by line judging and poor officiating. It’s (a) bummer to lose that way but I’ll give game one and game three to Delta.”
Instead of being down three with the ball, the Vikings went down 21-16 with Miller serving and an ace, then Darian Elendt scoring on a block that essentially ended the set.
Miller’s blast from the middle broke a third set 8-8 tie and Delta held off Evergreen the rest of the way with Delta’s big gun scoring five more kills, including yet another block at the net.
Finnen added a kill and back-to-back aces in that third set.
The loss gives the Vikings two in league play while the Panthers move up to the same 3-2 NWOAL record.
Reach Joe Blystone at [email protected]
