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A well-prepared Hanover team took it to the Atlee in the championship match of the Capital District Girls’ Volleyball Tournament at Lee-Davis High School, sweeping the Raiders in three straight games, 25-16, 25-15, 25-20.

Even though his Raiders had lost both regular season matches to Hanover Atlee head coach Curtis Carpenter expected his team to play better. “I’m disappointed,” he said. “I thought our girls would get a little more fired up for it, or maybe bring more intensity than they did.  I don’t know why it is that they played scared again against Hanover.  It’s been discussed in practice that we are just to play our game and not be fearful of anybody.  We sure didn’t do it this game and I don’t know why.”

Hanover took an insurmountable lead in game one with Taylour Hopkins serving fourteen consecutive points for the Hawks.  Katie Hudencial set up the shots for outside hitter Kristin Carpenter and Kim Browning to make any sort of Atlee comeback almost impossible. 

Raiders outside hitters Meg Bowers and Rachel Winfrey managed to gain a few consecutive serves but Atlee fell 25-16.

Game two began a bit more evenly as Atlee kept even with Hanover for the first six points, due to some good serves from Meg Bowers and well-placed corner shots by outside hitter Katy Sties.  But Carpenter’s six serves, four of which were consecutive aces, shifted the momentum dramatically back in Hanover’s favor. 

With a five-point deficit, the Raiders found themselves working uphill again, and this time the momentum continued in the Hawks’ favor and closed out with Carpenter capping off the final four points on serves.

Overall, Hanover head coach Wendy Wadstorth was pleased with her team’s performance. “I think we had a good match,” she said. “We played well.  We were certainly prepared for it.  We knew what Atlee had having played them twice already.  I don’t think we really peaked and played our best yet, but I think we put a solid performance in.”

As expected, Hanover got key performances from its top players. “Katie Hudencial, did an excellent job both setting for her peers,” Wadsworth said. “She is able to see the defense on the other side.  She’s good at choosing a hitter perhaps that is opposite an open spot or a block that isn’t as tall or as good.  She’s done a really good job of that as well as serving really tough.  Our primary target is obviously Kristen [Carpenter] who was recently named Regional Player of the Year, so we’re really excited.  She is our good key person.  Katie does a good job of getting her the ball, but also mixing it up, so the opponent doesn’t always know exactly where it is going.”

To no one’s surprise, the standout of the night was Carpenter, who made it clear she was a force to be reckoned with.  Whether it was cross-court kill shots from mid-court, softly placed net shots into uncovered floor space, or strings of consecutive ace serves, Carpenter was a nemesis for the beleaguered Atlee team. 

“Kristin definitely brings an intimidation factor,” Coach Carpenter said of his daughter and opponent.  “Hanover is a good team.  The core of that team has been playing together since they were eighth graders.  When they were the JV team, they went undefeated.  They didn’t lose anything; so as a whole there is some sort of intimidation factor from the whole team.  But Kristin definitely brings some intimidation; and especially in the different aspects of the game that she brings.  Tonight her serves were pretty incredible.  She decided she could bring some heat, and we couldn’t do anything with it.  But, I’m not sure how many people could have.  I was with my assistant coaches going, ‘What do we do?’  We were trying to make all kinds of adjustments.  We were trying to put everybody back in service even.  It was just coming back so fast…what do you do?”

Carpenter’s presence was no less palpable in Game three as it was in the earlier ones.  With eight serves and six other points earned from kills, she capped off the match serving up the final four points for the Hawks.  There was no room for wondering why Carpenter had won District Player of the Year all four of her High School years.

For Coach Carpenter, reaching the ultimate potential of the Raiders is now in the hands of the players. “We’ve done our best as coaches getting the team ready for the job,” he said.  “This team has all the basics in place.  They need to find the desire from within as a player.  We talked about that.  This is what we’ve practiced for, to play in the Regionals.  I question their desire at times.  They’ve got to get over the intimidation.  They just need to play with the motivation and intensity required.”

Wadsworth feels that if her team can make it through the tough opening rounds of regionals they can go a long way. “I definitely feel we have a good shot at making it to state this year,” she said. “We’ve been ranked off and on number one in the region, depending on which poll you look at.  We feel really confident we are playing our best.  With no injuries, and the team peaking at the right time; we’ll reach our goal of reaching the state tournament.”

Atlee———————- 16 15 21
Hanover—————- 25 25 25
Records: Atlee 16-5; Hanover 20-2