The Tyrone girls volleyball opened their dual match season on Wednesday evening at Indian Valley.
It took a while for the Lady Eagles to shake off the long bus ride, but Tyrone swept the varsity match three games to none, winning three close contests 25-20, 25-19 and 25-14 to get the year off to a good beginning.
“It took some time for us to get going,” said Tyrone volleyball coach Dave Eckberg. “But once we started to get into the flow of the match, we did pretty well. It was the first time in quite a while that when we got a team down and we stayed on top.”
Lindsay Christine had 10 service points, Emily Lloyd added six kills, Ashley Roth had five blocks, Katie Schreckengost had seven digs and Kim Cherry chipped in 14 assists for the Lady Eagles.
“I can’t say enough about Kim Cherry,” explained Eckberg. “This is her first true year as a setter. She has allowed an experienced hitting team to do what they need to do. We still have a lot of work-we made too many hitting errors and our hitting percentage is too low, but we hope to be a formidable opponent against everybody we play.
“My assistants, Lauren Ondecko and Pam Taylor have been tremendous assets to the program. They add extra sets of eyes and have been a real help.”
The Tyrone junior varsity also opened with a victory winning two of three games against Indian Valley. The hosts won the first game 25-23, but then the junior varsity Eagles regrouped to win 25-18 and 17-15 to win the match.
The varsity was at Philipsburg for a tournament on Saturday, winning two and losing one match.
Tyrone knocked off Tussey Mountain and Central Mountain, losing only to tournament champion Penn Cambria, which Eckberg regarded as a “successful start to the season.”
The Tyrone varsity will host Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday, Sept. 13. The junior varsity will participate in the Lady Mountie Invitational tournament at Philipsburg beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
