St. Paul tops New London to open season

The St. Paul Lady Flyers opened the 2010 volleyball season with a hard-fought 25-19, 25-18, 25-10 win over the New London Ladycats in Firelands Conference action on Tuesday night at New London High School.

St. Paul coach Nancy Miller was pleased to pick up the win, but also had high praise for New London.
“Teresa (Miller, New London coach) does a great job,” the Lady Flyers coach said.
“We knew coming in New London would be one of our stronger opponents,” she added. “They were very scrappy tonight.”
Nancy Miller liked the play of her squad, considering it was the season opener.
“I’m very proud of the girls,” she said. “We held our composure well. We relied on a lot of the basics tonight. We’ve got our first game under our belt now.”
The Flyer coach said there were some areas that needed work, though.
“Our middles were taking themselves out of the offense too much,” Miller said. “They were not getting off the net fast enough. But overall, our setting and blocks were consistent. We definitely improved as the night went on and we serve-received well and our passing was strong.”
Miller singled out a couple players for being leaders on the floor.
“From the setting position, Hillary Fritz is definitely a leader for us and Corynne Smith is our captain of the back row,” she said.
The Lady Flyers led the whole way in a Game 1 25-19 win.
The Ladycats held a 6-2 lead at one point during the second game before dropping Game 2, 25-18.
New London jumped out to a 4-0 in the third game, but saw St. Paul go on a 10-2 run.
Later, with the Flyers leading 15-10, St. Paul tallied the final 10 points of the contest to close out the win.
New London coach Teresa Miller knew the Ladycats battled.
“I’m very proud of them,” she said. “They hung in there. They are very disappointed, but I thought they played well.
“I was very pleased with Michalea Brown’s overall effort tonight,” she added. “We’ll go to St. Paul and bring it right back to them.”
Brown finished the night 19-of-23 at the net with 10 kills. She was also a 100 percent server, with 10 digs.
Teammate Katie Green was 63-of-63 setting, with 14 assists and 13 digs.
For St. Paul, Smith was 20-of-20 serving, with 16 points, and four aces. Jackie Weisenberger was 14-of-16 serving with 12 points and two aces, while Olivia Livengood was 10-of-10 with six points.
Haley Ott was 20-of-22 hitting with six kills while Livengood was 21-of-25 at the net, with nine kills.
Smith added 14 digs and Elise Nickoli chipped in 10. Fritz was 78-of-79 setting, with 26 assists.
The Lady Flyers return to action at home Thursday against Western Reserve.
“Their girls (Western Reserve) are always very athletic,” Nancy Miller said. “And coach (Brianne) Cooper is in her second year and we will definitely see improvement from them.”
St. Paul goes to the Sidney Lehman Catholic tournament Saturday.
New London hosts Mapleton on Thursday for a FC contest.