The serving of Savanna Sanborn got Highland out to a fast start in their 3-0 win over visiting KIPP Academy in Thursday’s sectional volleyball contest.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
The second-seeded Highland volleyball team cruised through the Division II sectional finals into districts on Thursday, controlling their home match against KIPP Academy to win by scores of 25-1, 25-9 and 25-3.
In the match, the Scots finished with 46, which places them second in OHSAA volleyball history and played a role in the team having a very quick night against the Jaguars — even though they played without the services of 2022 All-Ohio players Kameron Stover and Larsen Terrill. Mia Stanco had 12 of those aces, while Camryn Miller had nine, both Savanna Sanborn and Alexis Brown added seven, MaKaylee Merckling finished with six and Addie Mullins tallied four.
Highland set the stage for the match with a dominant first set that saw Sanborn serve for 11 points and Miller tally 12, while the team only gave up one defensive point to the Jaguars.
The Scots trailed 4-3 in the early going of the second set, but after recording a defensive point, they got eight straight points from Merckling, followed by four from Mullins to lead 17-5 in a set they would win by a 16-point margin.
Terrill noted that he was able to use the match against KIPP to give his less experienced players a lot of court time.
“We tried to make sure they were playing in positions that, one, if possible going down the line, we might need somebody to step into; another, that they’re comfortable with and just get them over the hump,” he said. “We got 13 in tonight and a couple who are out injured right now, so it just gave everybody an opportunity to play.”
Highland would then finish off the match with a strong final set. Leading 4-2, the team got 10 straight points by Stanco to take a commanding lead. With the score 15-3, Brown would then finish off the match by scoring its final 10 points.
“They did a really good job,” Terrill said of his players. “The focus was really good in sets one and three. We tripped a little bit in set two, but that’s kind of to be expected. I thought KIPP played really hard and played competitive and I told her (the KIPP coach) her girls played hard.”
Also, Kendal Kline had 15 assists and both Stanco and Reagan Maibach contributed four kills.
Next up for the Scots will be London, the fifth seed in the district. Immediately after the match, Terrill wasn’t sure if the opponent would be London or River Valley, but was expecting strong competition regardless.
“Whichever team we end up facing, we’ll go to work on them and see if we can get to a district final next weekend,” he said.
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
