The Cardinal Huskies volleyball team’s defense of their Northeastern Athletic Conference Stars Division title is off to a good start. The Huskies remained undefeated in the early season by sweeping league rival Pymatuning Valley 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 last Thursday evening in Middlefield.
“We are happy to be where we are at,” said Coach Michael Chaffee. “I think we need to get a little more consistency and people have to adjust to roles and those sort and those things are happening so.”
Since joining the NAC Stars Division, the Huskies (4-0-, 2-0) have not lost a league match, currently owning a 19-match winning streak. This season, Cardinal has swept its opponents three times in its first four matches.
According to the third-year coach, although the Huskies are sweeping their opponents, each sweep has been hard-fought battles, sharpening Cardinal’s instincts early on.
“We want to be able to be good closers at the end of games, so we have done that,” he added. “We have to work on getting a little more consistent in the middle of games too but the line-up that we are using is one that just came together at the very last game of our very last scrimmage, so we are still a work in progress.”
On Thursday, the Lakers stayed in striking distance of Cardinal in each of the three sets, tying the score 23-23 in the final set.
Although the Huskies had never built a comfortable lead, they closed out the scoring off the return of a Lakers’, recording their second consecutive sweep and league victory.
“They were good defensively,” noted Chaffee. “They played well defensively on Thursday night, but it was just the last one that was close. We were fortunate that we sided out and scored but they were getting closer every match.”
Chaffee acknowledged that although the Huskies have a perfect record so far, one of their challenges has been getting off to quick starts in the first set of matches. It was a similar case against Pymatuning Valley, with the teams deadlocked at 10-10 in the first set but Cardinal went on a 15-9 run to seal the victory.
He added that the Huskies’ service game has not been consistent, as evidenced against Pymatuning Valley.
“We are playing well at the end of a game, but we just have to get a little more consistency, one of the areas where we can get a lot better quick is that our serving has not been as effective as it usually is,” he said.
The Huskies led in the second set but never held an advantage greater than four points, ultimately pulling away at the end of the set, winning by a 25-21 margin.
Cardinal was fueled by its front row, consisting of senior middle blocker Olivia Krebs, senior middle blocker Nova Young, senior outside hitter Natalie Soltis and sophomore outside hitter Lillian Rulong.
In a front row consisting of upperclassmen, Rulong has paced the Huskies’ attack as the leader in kills, finishing the match with nine kills.
“She has been in the volleyball cycle for a while,” Chafee said. “She plays at a higher club level, so she is used to playing. She is very humble and last year she came on for us toward the end of the year and as a freshman she grew into the role last year.”
Having seven players in the rotation who received valuable minutes last year, Chaffee said that Cardinal’s outlook is even brighter as it is one of the deepest teams in the league, with a bench filled with reliable options.
While the Huskies’ rotation has been shortened to only eight players so far, Chaffee said that he is confident that several players on the bench will play key roles near the end of the season as Cardinal seeks to defend its league banner and return to the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division VII district championship.
“People are getting a lot of playing time and that is the nice part and for a small school, there are not a lot that have freshmen teams, but we have good depth all the way across and we have a good junior high program and a good youth program,” he said.
Following a road duel against NAC Stars Division foe Maplewood on Monday evening, a home match against league foe Matthews on Tuesday night and a road contest against conference rival Grand Valley on Thursday evening, the Huskies will return to action by traveling to face NAC rival Badger in a crossover league duel on Sep. 9 in Kinsman at 6:45 p.m.
