A furious late-set rally by the visiting Woodland Warriors made for a tense moment for the Flanagan-Cornell girls volleyball team as it opened its season Tuesday against its old rival.
Once the Falcons survived that, though, there weren’t any more tense moments.
Flanagan-Cornell defeated Woodland 25-23, 25-4 at the Nest to improve to 1-0. The Warriors – who also lost Monday at crosstown rival Streator – slip to 0-2 on the young season.
“I think definitely when we started, we were really nervous,” Falcons senior middle Marley Highland said. “But as soon as we figured out, ‘We can do this,’ we were OK. Last year, we had a really big problem with [nerves getting the best of us], but this year, I think it’s going to be really good.
“We got our nerves out. We had them for a few points, but then we were doing good, and I’m proud of us.”
The senior-led Falcons seemed to have the opening set well in hand after pulling away from a 14-14 tie, but had to overcome four late points served by Woodland’s Layna Wilcoxen (one an ace) on set point that drew the visitors to within 24-23. Flanagan-Cornell outside hitter Emme Wallace ended the rally and the set, however, with a deep kill off a set from fellow senior Kaylee Delheimer.
“I think that happened a lot last year where they would let their confidence go to the floor and get stuck in a hole,” first-year Falcons head coach Devyn Rich said. “So we worked over the summer and were in their heads tonight going, ‘You know what? It happened. Let’s keep going. Let’s not get stuck in this hole and let’s keep moving forward.’ ”
The Falcons then proceeded to completely dominate the second set, powered by a Wallace seven-point service run (two on aces) followed by a 13-point run (two on aces) served up by Highland, with Lani Pinkerton putting down the match-point kill.
“I think the gils did really well,” Rich said after her first career varsity victory. “I think they just need to learn to push themselves, and when we’re ahead by so many not stop communicating. Things can happen, and they need to continue to stay on their toes and keep moving and talking. ... But I think they did a very good job tonight.”
Highland with five kills, a stuff block and three aces; Pinkerton with seven kills and four digs; Wallace with four kills and a team-high eight digs; Kora Edens with three kills, a block and a pair of aces; and Delheimer with a match-best 19 assists led the Flanagan-Cornell attack.
For Woodland, libero Jaylei Leininger recorded eight digs; Gracie Milligan notched six assists; Layna Wilcoxen put together five digs with the Warriors’ lone ace; and sophomore middle hitter Grace Longmire was absolutely dominant early on her way to a five-kill, one-block performance.
The Warriors, though, could not hang onto the momentum they’d built at the end of the opening set through the brief between-sets break.
“We need to work on a lot of things at practice,” Warriors coach Michelle Pitte said. “We tried to change up a couple things with different setters and different rotations after just having a walk-through with back-to-back games. I believe [that lack of a practice in between matches] is harder on us this year than it’s ever been.
“I think that this year is a big building year for our team. We’re very young ... and it’s evident we need to be a little stronger and a little more confident with who we have on the court now. We have to have each other’s back, and so far I feel like that’s something we haven’t had.”