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Parkway's Naomi Knapke (11) spikes the ball as St. Marys' Audrey Reineke (18) defends during Monday's non-conference volleyball match in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - Parkway served up a 25-9, 25-17, 25-14 non-conference volleyball win over St. Marys Monday night at Panther Gymnasium.
Parkway recorded 19 service aces in the three-set match to improve to 14-5 on the season.
"We did a really good job behind the service line," Parkway coach Jordan Henkle said. "We had a lot of aces, but we got them out of system quite a bit because we were able to put pressure on them from the service line. That really helps with your blockers, your defense and just staying positive."
The Panthers dominated the opening set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. St. Marys got to within 11-7 on a kill by Audrey Chiles. But Parkway responded with a 14-2 run, including the last six points of the set served up by Bryn Schoenleben.
The Panthers had seven aces from four different servers in the opening set.
St. Marys, 4-14 overall, did a much better job of hanging around in the second set. A block by Audrey Reineke gave the Roughriders a 9-8 lead. Cami Langenkamp responded with a kill for the Panthers, triggering a 7-1 run and a 15-10 lead.
Avery Dieringer served up three unanswered points, including an ace, to pull the Riders to within one, 15-14. But the visitors would get no closer. Parkway scored the final five points of the set, which included three aces by Emmery Temple.
"I thought the second and third set, their serve receive was a little more consistent, they were able to run a little more offense, so they were siding out with us," Henkle said. "But we stayed calm, got some good service pressure, served some seams, and that created a lot of good opportunity for our team."
St. Marys' Madi Steger (7) tips the ball over while Parkway's Brittyn Bruns (3) and Cami Langenkamp (12) go up to block.
St. Marys got some strong play at the net from Madi Steger to tie up the third set 10-10. But from there the Panthers began to pull away.
Brittyn Bruns picked up a couple kills down the stretch, Langenkamp a block, but the match would end on an ace as Temple's final serve hit the tape and fell harmlessly to the court on St. Marys' side of the net.
Temple finished with eight aces, while Bruns added five to go along with seven kills. Langenkamp tallied six blocks, and Schoenleben 11 assists. Steger paced the Roughriders at the net with six kills and a block. Audra Clark picked up 11 assists and Elle Craft 12 digs.
Parkway's Colbie Smith goes up for a spike against St. Marys.
Ranked ninth in the state in Division VI, Parkway is 11-2 in non-conference matches, losing only to Crestview and South Adams in five sets each. The Panthers are 3-3 in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
"We lost some matches in the conference to a couple teams at the top, but I think every game has been a battle and we've been fighting," Henkle said. "Our serving has to stay aggressive but consistent. Last week against Coldwater we had one ace and 11 errors. We've got to figure out how to keep the errors down while still keeping teams out of system."
The Panthers will get a shot at another one of the MAC's top teams Thursday, playing host to third-ranked St. Henry.
St. Marys will be busy with Western Buckeye League action, traveling to Kenton tonight and hosting Elida on Thursday.
