Set streak over but Exeter still rolling
When did 13-0 equal 39-0? When Exeter’s girls’ volleyball team took the court this season.
The Eagles didn’t just defeat all comers, they crushed ‘em. Exeter won its first 13 matches all by 3-0 scores, rolling up a 39-set win streak in the process.
The streak – something the program had never come close to doing previously – came to a thudding end on Thursday, Oct. 12 at home on Senior Night against an unlikely foe, the Twin Valley Raiders. Twin Valley came into the contest winners in just two of its 13 matches this season and the Raiders departed Reiffton with the same victory total.
But Twin Valley stunned the Eagles with an unlikely 29-27 verdict in the second set, snapping Exeter’s epic season-long set win streak at 40.
The final linescore – which ended 3-1 in Exeter’s favor – is an odd one, something you’ll not often, if ever, see: 25-7, 27-29, 25-6, 25-6. That second set stands out like the sorest of thumbs. But it happened.
Twin Valley head coach Lauren Swan was understandably pleased despite the loss. No one – not Wilson, not Berks Catholic, not Governor Mifflin – has been able to do this season what her Raiders managed to pull off Thursday night. It was a brilliant, shining moment in what has been an otherwise downcast campaign.
“It was really exciting to take the second set,” Swan said. “I’ve been coaching high school for four years and that’s always been something they wanted to do. … I was really proud of them. I’ve been telling them they had it in them, and I was proud to see them perform like I knew they could perform.”
Veteran Exeter head coach Jason Grove, in his 15th season at the helm, was trying to mix in new lines early in a match he knew would go his club’s way in the end. Grove eventually inserted his starters back onto the court as Twin Valley built leads reaching as high as four points, at 18-14 and 21-17, during the second set but it did not alter the outcome.
“Obviously, you’re running a risk any time you’re changing the lineup up,” Grove said of the second set, “but our second-team players are generally as strong as most of our opponent’s starters, so it’s never really been an issue before. It obviously wasn’t going well tonight, and I generally just let it ride. We had a lot opportunities, but we squandered them.”
The Eagles caught the Raiders from behind, at 24-all. They earned set point, onserve, three consecutive times during extra time, but couldn’t close the guests out.
“It obviously wasn’t going well tonight, and I generally just let it ride,” Grove said of the second set. “We had a lot opportunities, but we squandered all of them. It seems as though they were feeling a lot of pressure (Thursday) night, seeing it’s an emotional night for the team. They were very aware they hadn’t dropped a set all year.
“That being said, I’m happy we rebounded the way we did, because we couldn’t have played much better the other three games. I’ve coached long enough to know that these things happen. We’ve had great teams here before and we’ve never been able to make it through without one blip. It’s just one of those things. Now they know they can’t afford to lose focus.”
The tree, of course, was the set winning streak. The forest – and it cannot, nor should not, be overlooked – is that Exeter remained unbeaten with the 3-1 victory to move to 14-0
as the postseason looms. Grove is unabashed in addressing long-term goals with his club. He, and they, know they’re good.
“I think I’d be insulting their intelligences pretending that we have to take everything match-bymatch,” Grove said. “There are certain matches that we focus on; there are matches that to do anything other than pretend we’re looking past would be very disingenuous. They know. They certainly have one eye on the postseason and I can’t say any different.”
Senior setter Alexis Schwenk had 45 assists against the Raiders. She concurred with her head coach: “We talk about what we want to accomplish. We want to go as far as possible. We want to win counties, we want to win districts.”