Volleyball: Fieldcrest moves to 6-0 with win over Putnam County

MINONK – The FIeldcrest volleyball team has a veteran roster with six seniors who all see significant time on the court.

That experience showed Tuesday.

The Knights responded to an early deficit in the first set and pulled out a close set to defeat Putnam County 25-13, 25-22 in a nonconference match.

In its home opener, Fieldcrest improved to 6-0 following a 5-0 start Saturday in winning the Hall Early Bird Tournament.

“We have some kids who are still learning. We’re still working out some of the kinks, but having the experience of having the kids back makes a difference,” Fieldcrest coach Cathy Sanders said about the 6-0 start. “Everybody is motivated. We have six seniors and they all see the court, so they just want to see things end out strong and have fun doing it.”

In the first set Tuesday, the Panthers scored the first five points with a run that included a thunderous kill by Maggie Richetta and an ace by Megan Wasilewski.

However, Fieldcrest senior Kaitlin White put down a kill to give the serve to classmate Bella Fortner, who rattled off an eight-point service run to give the Knights control.

“We just had a lot more momentum and so I think once we have the momentum we are more confident, so we swing harder and it kind of takes away from their confidence so they start to tip more. I think that was definitely what helped us in the first set.”

—  Allie Wiesenhofer, Fieldcrest senior

Fieldcrest senior Kaylin Rients put down three kills during the run.

“I feel just picking each other up and just resetting,” Fieldcrest senior Allie Wiesenhofer said about what the Knights did to respond to the early deficit. “If there’s a bad start, we always just say in the huddle, ‘OK, reset’ and we usually pick back up like normal.”

With a hard-swinging offense, the Knights stayed in command the rest of the way, pushing their lead to as large as 23-9.

“We just had a lot more momentum and so I think once we have the momentum we are more confident, so we swing harder and it kind of takes away from their confidence so they start to tip more,” Wiesenhofer said. “I think that was definitely what helped us in the first set.”

Richetta had a tip and a block late in the first set, but a Putnam County error ended the set.

“We had a really good start in the first five points and got a lot of fire, then we just really struggled the rest of the first set,” PC coach Amy Bell said. “They had a very aggressive offense. Ali does a great job on the outside. She hit down the line quite a few times and we haven’t seen that in a while, so we struggled with that.”

The Knights carried the momentum into the second set as they built an 8-2 lead with a run that included three kills and a block by Wiesenhofer and a tip and an ace by Rients.

Fieldcrest maintained a six-point lead at 13-7 before the Panthers started to claw back into the set, eventually tying it at 17 on a tip by Avery Moutray and taking the lead at 18-17 on an ace by Emma Bouxsein.

“What I was really impressed with was after a rough first set we had a lot of composure and came back with some changes in the second set, which really made a difference,” Bell said. “We used our strengths against them and it worked out well.

“I just flipped some hitters around and I think the girls realized if we swung aggressively, then good things were going to happen. We were a little bit tip happy in the first set.”

The second set was tied at 18, 20 and 21 before Rients had a tip, a kill and a block on three straight plays to give the Knights a 24-21 lead. Fieldcrest finished the match on a Putnam County error.

“When we play Putnam County, I’m not sure what to expect because it’s a rivalry that starts in middle school and it carries over,” Sanders said. “It’s always kind of tense that way. It’s something I know people look forward to. It’s a good match for us though at this point of the season so we can see where we’re at and what we need to work on. They were smart. I give them a lot of credit. They knew exactly where to put the ball in terms of tipping and keeping us on our toes.”

Wiesenhofer finished with 10 digs, seven kills and two blocks, Rients had 10 kills and a pair of aces and Fortner had 15 assists.

For the Panthers (5-3), Richetta had seven digs, six kills and three blocks, while Wasilewski had 12 assists, six digs and six points.