Bald Eagle sweeps rival Bellefonte in volleyball action

By rscaife
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Updated: September 14, 2018

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – The energy level at the Bellefonte high school was at a high level Thursday as two friendly rivals met on the volleyball court when Bald Eagle Area met up with host Bellefonte.

It was a tale of extreme opposite type teams as the veteran Bald Eagles met up with the freshman-laden Red Raiders both with a very voicetrous student sections represented.

Though Bellefonte played with a sense of spirit and pride through the match, it wasn’t enough for the undefeated Bald Eagles as the visitors went onto to sweep the Lady Raiders 3-0.

Bald Eagle took games one and two by scores of 25-9 and 25-5, respectively. In the final stanza, Bellefonte was able push the Eagles second team to the limit, 25-23.

Lacee Barnhart and Brynn Bisel led the Eagles with four kills. Madison Rockey had one block. Lexi Screpik tallied 10 digs while Rockey tallied seven ace and posted 21 assists.

“I thought Bisel reacted well since she settled down. She had a couple kills late,” BEA coach Larry Campbell said. “She had a lot of key serves and scored four or five points for us in the last 10. That was good to see. She’s one of those kids who have a ton of talent. She just doesn’t know how to slow down her airing right now. But when she figures that out she is going to be a big problem to a lot of team.”

In the first game, the Eagles got out to a strong start, posting an 8-0 advantage on the service points of Lexi Skripek.

Trailing Bellefonte 9-2, Bellefonte’s McKenna Hendrix picked up her team’s first service point of the night.

But after exchanging numerous side outs, until the Eagles got it to 11-4.

From there, Sydney Hill ran off four consecutive service points to up the score 15-4.

The Red Raiders continued to battle back and forth with side outs but after building up a 19-9 advantage, Brown put the game away, posting the final six points and sending her team away with a win.

In the second contest it would be all Bald Eagle as they systematically had it working from the serving line to the frontline and even covering drops in the middle.

Grace Hugar got the scoring going while she posted the first three points.

After a battle once again in side outs, the Eagles took a 5-2 lead and put the ball in Brown’s hands to increase the lead.

She did not disappoint. She posted four consecutive service points, putting her team up by seven points.

After losing the ball to a side out, the Eagles got it back once again and Lacee Barnhart hit a service point, making it 11-3.

When the Eagles got the ball back again, the group went on yet another run at the service line.

Christen Onder collected seven consecutive points, putting her team in solid position to pick up the victory, 19-4.

Rockey finished things off for the Eagles finishing by scoring the last five points of the game en route to the 25-5 win.

In the final game of the night, Bellefonte led things off with scoring the first four points of the game, all of which from the serving of Lady Raider Shaelah Pepperman.

With the lead of 7-3, Bellefonte got another service point from Hendrix.

Bald Eagle would tie the game at seven after a three-point scoring run by server Bisel.

Bellefonte bounces back to take the 10-7 advantage on two service points by Chelsea Robson.

However, after a contest full of side outs and rally changes, the Eagles found a way to bounce back and take the final game by a slim 25-22 margin.

“I am very proud of our girls for never giving up. That’s one thing we talked about. We knew we were going up against a strong team so we need to keep the energy level high,” Bellefonte coach Toni Nikki Kerr said. “It was a competition and it kept everyone’s energy up. We were hoping to get that win in the third but it is what it is but we fought as hard as we could and that’s good.”

Bald Eagle is back in action Tuesday against Huntingdon.