West Port eases past Vanguard in volleyball

After playing each other earlier in the season, West Port and Vanguard showed vast improvement as they met for the final time on Tuesday night.

West Port, which won the earlier clash, displayed consistency and accuracy in setting the ball for its talented front line led by sophomore Gaveena Smith, who had a match-high 10 kills to lead the Wolf Pack to a 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17 win over a small but scrappy Knights squad.

“We got the win which is always nice,” said West Port coach Mike Rasdall. “This was our ninth match in eight days, and we’re hit with an injury bug right now. We’ve got the in-county tournament next week so we’re working on some new plays and a few wrinkles. We are more than halfway through the season, and I like where we’re at as a team.”

Vanguard, which was swept by West Port in their first meeting, showed great resiliency and grit in making this a much more competitive match.

“The girls played hard, but we came up a little short,” said Knights first-year coach Douwyna Montalvo. “We are a really young team and we’re having some communication issues. I’m trying to get them to believe in themselves and have confidence when they play but it’s a process we’re all going through.”

West Port, which improved to 9-7 overall, had its hands full in the first set as the score was tied at 13 before the Class 7A Wolf Pack began to pull away. Junior Joslynn Galvan had five of her nine kills and Smith added four kills and a key block to reach set point and Galvan drilled a spike to seal the 25-20 win.

The second set saw West Port ease to a 9-6 lead before Wolf Pack senior Abbey McClinton sparked a 9-0 run with a block and several well-placed serves, Senior Almarelis Malava had two kills and junior Karelis Molina contributed a pair of service aces to make it 17-6.

Class 5A Vanguard, which dropped to 3-9 on the season, made a run as senior Lillian Hart had three of her team-high nine kills and Payton Donahue had a service ace, but West Port’s Smith hammered back-to-back spikes to sew up the set by a score of 25-17.

The third set looked to be a Vanguard rout as the Knights played well as a team and stormed out to a commanding 22-8 lead as Hart had a block to go with five kills and senior Sarah Beville added three kills of her own.

But incredibly, West Port clawed its way back into the match and closed within one point, but a Wolf Pack spike sailed long to give the set to Vanguard.

The final set saw West Port take an early 12-5 lead as Malave had a service ace and Smith and Molina scored points at the net.

Vanguard refused to go quietly and closed to within 18-16 as Beville had two service aces and libero Dorimar Villegas, who finished with 15 assists, set up Hart for a pair of kills.

West Port’s McClinton settled things down with three consecutive ace serves. Vanguard committed a couple of miscues and Malave unleashed an ace serve to clinch the set and the match for the Wolf Pack.

West Port is back in action on Monday when the Wolf Pack play North Marion in the first round of the county tournament being held at Forest High, while Vanguard will take on Belleview on Monday night at Forest.