Lions looking forward to strong second half in senior girls volleyball

Assumption Lions’ Chloe Bomberry (center) and Josie Maclean (right) both reach to return a serve during a high school senior girls volleyball game against the Paris Panthers Thursday in Paris. Brian Thompson/Brantford Expositor/Postmedia Network

The Assumption College Lions senior girls volleyball team is heating up just in time for the second half of the Athletic Association of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk season.

The Lions (3-3) played the last game before the Christmas break at Paris District High School on Thursday, defeating the Panthers (1-5) 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21

“I think they’re playing a lot better,” ACS coach Jeff Bender said of his team’s most recent game.

“We’re making some adjustments, changing our system to take advantage of some of our key players with bumping and spiking.”

After winning their first game of the season 3–0 against the Panthers on November 29, Assumption lost the next three contests. However, the final two games in that series were five-set losses to North Park Collegiate and McKinnon Park Secondary School, proving the Lions had turned a corner.

“They played to the end and we just didn’t make it,” said Bender, whose team went into Thursday’s game after beating Brantford Collegiate Institute 3-0 on Tuesday.

“I don’t know what caused that, whether it was a lack of energy or something else.”

In the second half of the season, beginning January 9, the Lions will work on their new system, which includes installing a new player.

“We’re in the process of training a new setter,” said Bender, noting that Kaelyn Kendrick will fill the role.

“I think that will mean everything. We will be able to move some key players into new roles.

“We lost our setter in the first week of the season, which threw us off course. We’re still trying to recover from that.”

Though the Lions appear to have an uphill battle ahead when it comes to climbing the standings, that’s not quite their focus. Assumption just wants to get into the playoffs and then make some noise.

“I’m very confident,” said Bender about the future of ACS. “With these changes we’re making, we can play with absolutely any team.”

The Panthers fired Thursday and with Mya Padusenko on the service line, they took a 5-0 lead.

Assumption’s Josie MacLean stopped that run with a spike, and then MacLean’s serve turned a 7-2 PDHS lead into a one-point deficit for the Lions.

Serve continued to be a problem for the Panthers early on and a great serve from Assumption’s Chloe Bomberry gave the visitors a 15-8 lead.

Despite solid net play from Brookelyn Sanger and Claire Livingstong to help Paris draw 21-21, strong attitude from Athena Hedley and timed goals from Jaimee Martell and Ellie Silva gave ACS a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five fit.

The Lions led 6-3 at the start of the second set before an Emmalyse Ristau strike and a powerful serve from Kayla Korber gave Paris a 7-6 lead.

Assumption then fell back 14-11 before hitting a roadblock and after some outstanding serves from Serena Gambacourt the Panthers were up two 16-14.

In a 19-19 tie, Bomberry went to the line and when she was done – and with a nice job from Kelsea Walker at the net – ACS built up a 23-19 advantage en route to a 2-0 lead in goal fit.

An early strike from Lauren Cohoon put the Panthers 3-2 down in the third, but then Bomberry went to the line and fielded her team again, this time 9-3.

From that point on, Victoria Cheney and Gabriella Osarumwense played strong defense for Assumption as they secured the win.