Padua Tops Wilmington Friends in Volleyball Tournament Action

Padua Academy advanced to the DIAA State Volleyball Tournament semifinal round with a hard fought 3-1 victory over Wilmington Friends Tuesday night in a match played Tuesday night at St. Mark's High School gymnasium in Pike Creek. The Pandas will take on Concord, a 3-0 winner over Tower Hill in the first game of the doubleheader, on Thursday evening in a match to be played at St. Mark's, beginning at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship game at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center on Monday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.

The Friends squad came out fired up and won the first set 25-20 behind the strong play of junior Delaney Lee and Susan Kuhn. Overall, the Quakers attacked well on offensive and held their positions well on the defensive side of the net. But unfortunately, they would not be able to sustain that momentum for the rest of the match.

Padua coach Lauren DiSabatino said she felt her Pandas came out a little flat at the outset. “You know how it is at tournament time. I do think we were a little flat and off our game but just a little bit. After that, we got our rhythm and played much better,” she said.

In the second set, Padua did come roaring back, downing the Quakers 25-9, with strong play coming especially across the front line. The Pandas were able to work their offense by setting up numerous spoke situations.

Padua sustained their attack in the third set and won narrowly by the score of 25-22 as Wilmington Friends rallied from an early deficit to tie the set at 14-14, but Padua was able to close the set with strong play again coming from the front line. Junior Jennifer Borio, and seniors Erica Engler and Sarah Landry supplied the power for Padua.

“We played well in the second, third and fourth sets, but we let up a little bit in the third set, and that allowed Friends to get back into that game, but after that we settled down and were able to finish out the match,” said DiSabatino.

In the fourth set, Padua jumped to an early 10-4 lead and again had a small letdown as the Quakers closed the gap to 15-12, but the Pandas again tuned on the power to win the set 25-18 and win the set
3-1.