Havelock bumps Eastern Wayne

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on August 21, 2008 1:35 PM

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With a roster lacking in numbers and a new head coach Eastern Wayne's feeling out process could last for a while.

The Warriors showed flashes of life, but lacked consistency and struggled with communication as Havelock prevailed 25-21, 25-15, 24-26, 25-19 on Wednesday afternoon.

Game one had eight ties and Eastern Wayne led by three points on three different occasions before the momentum shifted. The Rams trailed 16-13 before rallying to take an 18-17 lead they'd never relinquished.

Kaitelin Engel recorded a pair of pivotal kills down the stretch for Havelock and hitting errors plagued the Warriors (0-1 overall) on the final three points.

"We were a little inconsistent at times," said first-year head coach Steve Gregorcyk. "We would get a couple of good serves and then we would hit one out. We averaged four or five bad serves a game. We lose the first game 21-25 and four serves in would have been the difference."

Havelock jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead in game two behind a pair of kills from Angela Luebs, a kill from Natalie Sasser and an ace from Sara Schmitt.

The Warriors closed within 13-17 on Jazmine Middleton's service ace. The Rams responded by winning eight of the game's final 10 points to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.

Eastern Wayne regained its composure and fought back to take a tightly-contested game three in which points were traded back and forth. Amethyst McPhail tallied three kills for the Warriors and Megan Hruby pitched in a pair of aces.

"I was very happy with our service receive and getting the ball up and setting up plays," said Gregorcyk. "They had us by four or five inches per girl in height advantage. I was real pleased with our defensive play."

Havelock claimed a 10-5 advantage early in game four before Eastern Wayne battled back to tie the game at 13-13. Anna Hajjar and Andy Macias both chipped in an ace and a kill during the Warriors' rally.

However, Eastern Wayne gave away costly points while Alyssa and Angela Luebs took over for the Rams.

"In the fourth game, what can I say?" said Gregorcyk. "Havelock has a good team. Being a new head coach, I spend the whole afternoon setting up the court rather than concentrating on the girls.

We only had 12 girls try out so we don't even have a fully lineup. But overall, I would say the chemistry is good."

Hajjar finished with two kills and a pair of aces.