Comets slay Lions, fall to Mohawks in VB tri-meet

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CLEAR LAKE — Revenge is a dish best served cold.

But service itself in volleyball is best served with some heat on it.

One of the primary objectives this season for the Charles City Comets volleyball team is to be more aggressive on serves than in seasons’ past.

During Thursday’s triangular meet against Mason City and hosting Clear Lake, Charles City slapped in it share of serves with bad intentions while going 1-1 for the evening while staying a match above .500 (4-3) for the still young season.

In the opening match against the hosting Lions, the Comets won 2-1 (25-22, 21-25, 15-9) in a best-of-three format while slapping in a total of 10 aces. Senior Jennifer Martin had four aces and junior Sarah Mitchell had three while going 11 of 11 at the service line.

The Comets took a 18-11 lead in the first set when Toni Maloy assisted Rachel Chambers for a killing point, then were up 21-12 on one of Martin’s aces.

The Lions rallied back to pull within 2 (24-22) before a touch kill by Comet junior Danielle Stock sealed the set.

Several aces by Mitchell, who also had 18 assists during the match, helped the Comets jump out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, but a pair of blocking kills by Lion junior Delany Eden helped put Clear Lake up 15-10 on way to forcing the third set.

A kill by Comet junior Sadie Gebel gave Charles City a 12-5 lead in the deciding set. A Clear Lake run made the score a little closer, but the Comets weren’t threatened that much on way to match victory.

In the subsequent straight-set loss (25-20, 25-22) against Mason City, the Comets went up 7-3 in the first set with a Mitchell-to-Chambers kill, but the Mohawks responded with 4 straight points capped with a resounding kill by Grace Tobin to tie it before back-to-back blocking kills by Tiegan Barkema gave Mason City some distance on the way to taking the first set.

A kill by Comet senior Marissa Daniels and an ace by Maloy put Charles City up 12-8 in the second set, but another kill by Tobin later gave the Mohawks the lead (18-17) for good.

Charles City will be back in action Saturday while participating in a tournament hosted by Osage.