Cape volleyball falls to Sallies 3-0
It was a matchup of the 2023 DIAA State Tournament final between the Vikings and Salesianum School April 5 on the Cape hardwood. But the final outcome was reversed as Sallies downed the Vikings 25-15, 25-10 and 25-19 for a 3-0 victory. The Sals move to 6-0 while the Vikings are 2-1.
“Friday’s match was certainly a reminder of the work that still needs to be done for us to continue to grow to have success this season,” said Cape head coach Tyler Coupe. “Sallies has such firepower in every rotation. Most teams you get lucky, and there’s one or two rotations where if they’re out of system it’s a little easier to predict or anticipate where their offense will run out of, but with their hitters’ capabilities and quality of tempo their setter Ronan [Landis] is able to run, it makes the game that much tougher for our defense.”
Junior Bryce Patterson led the Vikings with 10 kills and six digs. Talan Stephens put up 19 assists and bumped eight digs. Tias Small knocked down seven kills and bumped seven digs. Jayceon White bumped six digs.
“It’s really important that we play this game so early in the season,” said hitter Bryce Patterson. “We haven’t faced a team of that caliber, and we need to keep playing that level. We need to know where we need to be with those fast tempos. It goes a long way for the rest of our season.”
“I thought our offense, when given the opportunity, ran pretty decently,” Coupe said. ”Bryce [Patterson] had a nice game on the outside going toe-to-toe with a high-caliber player like Reid [Maas]. Tias [Small] continued to show his diversity, having success out of the middle and on the right side. We hit .177 in a three-set loss, which is higher than most would expect. Our issues really stemmed on the defense side. Sallies is a team that’s returning almost all but one starter from their team last year, while we’re a team that’s returning only one true starter from last year. This match gives our players the understanding of what a high-power and high-energy match will look like.”
