St. Anne’s-Belfield’s volleyball team needed a big play. A definitive point to get things permanently back in their favor with game three potentially slipping away.
Sierra Smith was more than willing to provide.
“Sierra always happens to come through with the big blocks and the big kills,” said STAB junior Ann Cathcart. “(She) always gets the team going.”
Smith made a critical block to pull the Saints within a point and STAB shortly thereafter put that third game away to wrap up a 3-0 sweep of Covenant at home Thursday night.
“Sierra is definitely a dynamic player for us and she has great timing on the block,” said STAB coach Stacey Gearhart. “Anytime she can go up and keep the ball from coming on our side of the court, we’ll take it.”
The Saints won 25-21, 25-13, 25-22 to sweep the Eagles. STAB did a lot of their damage at the service line with an impeccable performance by Sarah Bauer leading the way as the squad’s setter rolled up 10 aces and Cathcart, among others, turned in solid performances at the line.
“The first half of the season our serves were definitely weak, we’ve worked a ton on it in practice,” Cathcart said. “We’ve got our serve average up to about 94 percent per game, so the hard work has definitely paid off.”
The serves were of particular importance with Covenant’s Emily Maupin manning the net. Getting the Eagles out of system kept Maupin from overpowering Covenant, though the junior still finished with 11 kills and a ton of blocks as well as 15 digs.
“Emily Maupin is a force,” Gearhart said. “She’s taking serve/receive, she’s setting up people, she’s hitting the ball and the biggest thing is she’s the biggest wall we see all conference — she’s the biggest block far and away. We just had to stay smart and stay the course when she was on the front row.”
The Saints countered Maupin with front line depth as Cathcart and Smith each totalled 11 kills while Carter Morris had six kills on the night. Smith was strong defensively with two total blocks including the game three stuff and a team-high 13 digs. Bauer and Kellie Booth combined for 24 assists.
Covenant’s Tori Jenkins finished with two kills and two aces while Lizzie Fields had to blocks and 10 digs for the Eagles.
Both squads start LIS tournament play next week, though the Saints still have a regular season clash with Middleburg to play Friday at 5 p.m.
