Rose Hill mixes things up for win
MULVANE When Rose Hill coach Melissa Segovia brought up junior Victoria Egidy from junior varsity for Tuesday’s volleyball triangular at Mulvane, it was to give the Rockets’ offense a different look and add some height.
After Egidy settled into her role as an outside hitter, she had five kills in the third set of Rose Hill’s 25-22, 18-25, 25-11 win over Clearwater. Rose Hill (21-8) also defeated Mulvane 25-14, 25-11.
Clearwater (20-7) beat Mulvane 25-12, 25-23.
“Absolutely love seeing that,” Segovia said of Egidy’s play. “… We just thought a little bit of height would be beneficial, and when she kind of relaxed, she played well.”
Rose Hill has multiple options at hitter in Kylie Pfaff, Bailey Santo, Dakota Williams and Lexie Wartick. Adding Egidy gave setter Kynnedy Myers even more chances to utilize a variety of plays.
“It is so nice to have that trust,” Segovia said. “We can run quicks, we can run whatever we want with that versatility.”
In the Clearwater match, Pfaff had 13 kills and a stuff block, while Williams, Santo and Egidy had five kills each. Wartick added four and Myers had one.
Against Mulvane, Pfaff had 12 kills, while Wartick had six, Santo five, Williams four.
But it took three sets to beat Clearwater largely because of Rose Hill’s sudden struggle to pass effectively.
“There were points that we lost some focus,” Segovia said. “We had four great passes in a row, and then unforced errors. We had hitting errors. When we were able to focus and put everything together, it seemed to work a little bit better for us.”
Clearwater led 18-16 in the first set after scoring eight straight points before losing. But it provided the Indians with needed confidence.
In the second set, the Indians scored six unanswered on Victoria Worden’s serve. Clearwater’s winning set point came on a Rose Hill hitting error.
“Once they figured out they could compete, it really drove their momentum for the next set,” Clearwater coach Trista Schmitt said.
Clearwater’s Bryna Vogel had nine kills and four stuff blocks in the match. She had 12 kills in the win over Mulvane. Worden added four kills against Rose Hill, while Hanna House had five, Maddie Petersen three.
But in the final set, Pfaff opened with a kill en route to a 4-0 lead. Up 12-10, Rose Hill scored 11 unanswered and 13 of the set’s final 14 points.
“I think we were really intense, were getting excited when we put the ball down,” Pfaff said. “We just were not passing in the second set. …. Right now, we are playing the best volleyball we’ve been playing this year. We’ve been picking it up and practicing hard.”