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Show I A.1 4 V I h f - - Coach KariCulp Miner spikers smash Wildcats to open volleyball season by Randy Hanskat Although the opening of school was still a few days away, the Park City High School girls' volleyball team opened their season last Thursday evening at PCHS against the Wildcats of South Summit. And the defending region champs started off in typical fashion, beating the Wildcats decisively in two straight games. The season is a promising one for the Miners, who last year played the entire regular season and the region playoffs without a loss. That bubble burst in the state tourney, however, as the Miners finished fifth. Many of the starters from that team are back this year with another year of experience under their belts. The six starters in Thursday's varsity game were Tori Pillinger, Becky Stover, Suzie Miles, Nicki Koch, Andrea Peterson, Mindee McMillan and Marlene Murnin. In case you are telling yourself that is seven, not six McMillan and Murnin split one position. Miner Coach Kari Culp said McMillan, better known for her defensive play, played only on the back row, while Murnin came in when the rotation came to the front row. Culp said the first game was pretty close, but the Miners jumped out to a small lead and held on to it throughout. It ended up 15-10. The second contest was a different story, she said. Park City fell behind 7-1 early on, and the situation looked bleak. But, not giving up, the Miners charged back into it, eventually winning 15-8, scoring 14 points to one by the Wildcats. Culp said that game was pleasing because often in volleyball it is hard to come back from such deficits due to the momentum involved. Nicki Koch is the leading spiker on the squad, Culp said. She had a total of 15 kills on the night. A kill is a spike which is not returned by the opposition. She had nine kills in the first game, six in the second. Those statistics are likely to increase, Culp said, because Koch was playing a bit conservatively Thursday night, not ' hitting her spikes' wUft full velocity. ' " A Weak spot of Thursday's' action, Culp said, was serving. Top servers Andrea Peterson and Becky Stover, she said, hit many of their serves long. Since points can be scored only on the serve, those missed opportunities opportun-ities cost the Miners. Culp attributed the mistakes to first-match tension. The next match for the Miners is Thursday at City Park against Manila. Manila, which has not had a strong team in past years, is an unknown quantity this season, Culp said. The junior varsity will take the Miner Gym court at 5 p.m., with the varsity immediately following. |
