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Strasburg settles down, comes back against Toronto volleyball

TORONTO — The Toronto Red Knights jumped out to a 9-2 lead early in set one, but Strasburg settled down and rolled the rest of the match winning in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20 and 25-8 in the first round of the Division III sectional tournament at Toronto High School.

The loss ended the Lady Red Knights’ season at 15-8, which is the most wins in school history.

“I’m proud of these girls the way they fought all year and with the things we accomplished,” said first-year Red Knight coach Walter Anchors. “They probably don’t realize what they have accomplished so we’re going to talk about it with them and let them know how proud I am of them.

“It’s my first year here and we’re still implementing my program and my personality. I’m hoping to stay here longer and build on it.”

Once Strasburg coach Katie Cunningham got an early time out and settled her team down, the Lady Tigers got into a rhythm and wouldn’t be denied.

“We’ve done that before,” said Cunningham, whose team now is 13-10. “It takes them a while to get warmed up, but once they get moving and it could have been first tournament game jitters a little bit, too.

“We had a game plan and I just had to remind them of it in that first time out. We play in a really tough conference. We had two teams go to the state tournament last year, so we get competition every time we go out. Maybe our record doesn’t quite show how good we are.”

The Red Knights could never recover from the comeback by the Tigers in the first set.

“One unforced error led to another,” said Anchors. “That’s what we’ve been struggling with all year. We play strong and let a couple of unforced errors turn into five, six, seven points and then not finishing strong. But we’re proud of our record. Toronto never has had more than 12 wins in a season.

“Gina Fogle, our libero, just makes some incredible digs. I just kept asking my assistant, ‘How did she get that?’ She’s a junior so I’ll have her back next year.

“We knew Strasburg would be strong coming in because they play in a strong conference. I knew they were going to be tough.”

The Tigers dominated the net play.

“Attacking is our strength,” said Cunningham, who is in her fourth year at Strasburg. “We always want to attack. We feel no matter where the ball is on the court, even if its out of system, we should be able to attack at the other team. Whether the ball shoots to the corner or somewhere I want them attacking rather than just hitting three balls over. We focus on that in practice every day.”

Strasburg clawed back into the first set and tied it at 18-18 on a Red Knight error. Then, sophomore Zoey Thomas, who had six aces in the match, began serving and the Tigers reeled off seven straight points to win the set.

Thomas also does well on the front line. She finished with five kills, but senior Hannah Duff led the front line with seven kills including the final one of the third set to win the match. Senior Amanda Ashby chipped in six kills, but also was credited with 17 digs and 15 assists.

Delaney Merideth led the Red Knights with eight kills and six blocks while Jenna Leasure added five kills.

Jamie Anderson scored seven points and had three aces.

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