Adam Gieser helps lead Lockport volleyball past Providence Catholic

LOCKPORT – Last season, the Lockport boys volleyball team was the definition of senior-laden. The Porters graduated 10 seniors from that club, which finished 32-6 and won a regional title.

Adam Gieser is one of just two returning players, and he had a team-high seven kills to lead the Porters past Providence Catholic 28-26, 25-16 on Thursday.

“I didn’t play a lot last year because some of those seniors were three-year varsity players and the rest were two-year guys,” Gieser said. “They had a lot of experience and knowledge. Even though I was on the bench, I tried to learn from them, and I’m trying to do the same thing for our young guys this year.”

The Porters (9-7) and the more experienced Celtics (5-13) played tight throughout the first set, as the only three-point advantage belonged to Lockport at 19-16. Providence managed to rally and tie it at 19 and it remained a back-and-forth affair. The Porters took a 25-24 lead, but the Celtics fended off a set point and scored two straight to move ahead 26-25.

Lockport turned the tables and scored the final three points, including a kill by setter Antonio Fiordirosa, who led the team with nine assists and six digs.

“This is the first time this year that we have faced set point against us and come back and won the set,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “We knew we would have some growing pains this year, but the confidence is starting to build.”

The momentum from the first-set win carried over for the Porters early in the second set, as they raced out to a 7-3 lead. Providence, however, had an answer and took an 8-7 lead after back-to-back kills by Sean Dovin. Lockport countered with kills by Hunter Fash (four kills) and Ryan Beaumont. Another Dovin kill tied it at 9 before the Porters ran off four straight points, with Gieser delivering two kills in the stretch.

An ace by Cole Gloss pulled Providence to within 14-13, but that was as close as the Celtics got as Lockport closed the match with an 11-3 run.

“We had a lot of errors in the first set,” Gieser said. “But we cleaned that up in the second set. We are getting better as a team and working together better. This is the first time most of the guys are playing varsity ball and they are starting to adjust.”

Providence was hurt by 14 serving errors, which limited their ability to put together a long scoring run. Jackson Fowler led the team with six kills, while Dovin added five.

“We struggled from the service line,” Providence coach Lee Rucinski said. “Until we learn to find value in serving, we are going to struggle to win matches. Between our serving errors, hitting errors and net violations, we gave away 32 points. That’s not going to get it done.

“We played with good intensity and had some stretches of good volleyball, but our mistakes just snowballed. When you are making errors like that, it puts a lot of pressure on the serve receive. It just turns into a negative cycle, and we need to value our serves more.”