Last Thursday, the No. 2 ranked Atlee girls volleyball team continued their romp through the Capital District ranks with a 3-0 sweep of an up and coming Lee-Davis squad. With the win, the Raiders improved to 6-0 against district competition and have placed a virtual stranglehold on the regular season title.

  But perhaps most notable in Atlee’s win was the fact that this was no bottom of the ladder Lee-Davis squad but rather one that came into the contest ranked No. 5 in the region and a solid second place in the Capital District race.

  The home-standing Raiders used solid passing, receiving and an arsenal of serves to keep Lee-Davis off balance and dominate play. Atlee finished the match with 15 aces, led by senior Courtney Booth (6 kills, 6 aces, 2 digs, assist) junior Meg Bowers finished (6 kills, 3 aces, 4 digs) and sophomore Kayleigh Moody (10 kills, block).

  While the Raiders have been known for their powerful jump serves, against Lee-Davis they showed both accuracy and finesse, to pick the Confederates apart.

  Atlee head coach Curtis Carpenter said he has used a game called K2 to hone the Raiders service skills. “It’s a serve-receive game,” he said. “We have two teams and they go after each other pretty hard. We keep preaching to them, if you can pass yourself you can pass anybody. So you’ve got one side that’s going hard at them serving and the other side is like, ‘I’m not going to let them ace me.’

  “So it’s a nice competition thing they do,” Carpenter said. “We actually asked the girls if they were getting any benefit out of that drill and they said they loved it. They thought it was great benefit.”

  While giving credit to Atlee’s serves, Lee-Davis head coach Crystal Taylor felt her team just could not get into their game. “We got a lot of those serves up we just couldn’t put it all together,” she said. “Even when we passed, we just struggled hitting or hitting the ball back over the net. We just really didn’t have a chance to run an offense.”

  Though the C-feds did not provide Atlee with much of a challenge, such is not typical of Lee-Davis this season. In her fourth year as head coach, Taylor has taken the C-feds from an also-ran to regional contender. “Our girls are probably the best we’ve been in years as far as talent, skill and chemistry,” Taylor said. “I think that they have a whole lot of heart and they have a whole lot of want. They want to play the good teams and be as good as them. I think it’s just finally starting to come together.”

  Game one saw Atlee run out to a 10-3 lead before Lee-Davis answered with five straight points to pulled within two.

  But a kill from Booth brought service back to Atlee where sophomore Carly Norris and Bowers went to work from the service line, allowing the Raiders to go on a 10-1 run.
  The Confederates’ Meghan Trice momentarily stopped the bleeding with a kill but Atlee reeled off the final five points to take the first set 25-10.

  There was little question as to the outcome of the second set. With sophomore Hailey Brooks at serve, Atlee jumped out to a 10-2 lead which stretched to 20-6 before closing out the set 25-9.

  Atlee took an early 6-3 lead in the third before Lee-Davis answered with kills from Allie Labons (2 kills, 2 digs) and Trice.

  The Raiders edged back in front by two, only to see the C-feds come back again, trimming the lead to 8-7.

  Because Atlee has been playing so well, Carpenter feels their greatest enemy is losing focus. “We tell the girls all the time, we’ve got the athletes, we’ve got the skills, but we’ve got to be tough mentally,” he said. “I saw it in that third set, we kind of went out there and we’re kind of standing up a little bit.”

  But with Lee-Davis threatening, the Raiders responded, reeling off 10 straight points and closing out the match with a 25-12 win.

  Carpenter feels that his team is dangerous, not only because of talent but depth. “We’ve got some kids that are very good but we’re very good all the way across the board,” he said. “We can come at you from different directions which is a very nice thing to have. I hope that we keep getting better.”

  On such a roll now, continued improvement is Carpenter’s greatest concern. “My fear is, I hope we keep improving,” he said. “That’s, I guess, any coach’s fear, you hit October into November your team is starting to peak then. I think we are.”

  Because of his squad’s skill level, Carpenter finds himself challenged to find ways to keep his team sharp. On Wednesday he added a couple of new plays during practice. On Thursday, the Raiders ran the plays to perfection. 

  And perfection is a new level sought by Carpenter during practices. “There’s things that we did, I might have let go three weeks ago, but now there’s no room for error,” he said. “We’ve got execute in practice and if we don’t there’s consequences. And I think we’ve picked it up.”

  With their sights set far beyond a district title, the Raiders have a monumental non-district matchup on Oct. 25 when they host No. 1 ranked Deep Run.
Lee-Davis….........................10   9 12
Atlee ...................................25 25 25
Highlights: Madison Norvell (LD) ace, 6 digs; Caroline Naumann (LD) 3 blocks, 2 kills; Allie Labons (LD) 2 kills, 2 digs; Kayleigh Moody (A) 10 kills, block; Courtney Booth (A) 6 kills, 6 aces, 2 digs, assist; Meg Bowers (A) 6 kills, 3 aces, 4 digs
Records: Lee-Davis 5-2, 9-7; Atlee 6-0, 12-1