Perhaps the only thing hotter than the Fred Gerst Gymnasium at Neshaminy High School on Sept. 15 was the New Hope-Solebury girls volleyball team.
After opening the season with a 3-0 shutout win over Bensalem Sept. 10 on their home court, the Lions proved their mettle on the road, coming back from an 0-2 deficit to get past the Skins 3-2 and go 2-0 on the season.
“It was so exciting. We were all really into it,” exclaimed New Hope-Solebury junior outside hitter Mia Chuma.
“We really wanted to come back after those two losses so we said ‘just build one point upon another.’
“We did that together and we finished strong.”
Absolutely.
After dropping the first two sets, 20-25 and 22-25, the Lions roared back with 25-19 and 25-16 wins to deadlock the sides at 2-all.
When it took a 12-5 edge in the rubber match, New Hope looked like it was on its way to a crushing victory in game five. The Skins bounced back however with a 7-0 run capped by an Alivia Nocito kill to tie the final set at 12-all.
Neshaminy committed a pair of hitting errors for the next two points but it was not until Lions junior middle Lilly Kraemer posted up with a block at the net, that the New Hope faithful breathed a collective sigh of relief after a 15-13 victory.
With a 10-4 lead early on in game one, the Lions actually looked like they were on their way to a win when the Skins bounced back with an 11-3 run to take a 15-13 lead.
A 9-4 scoring spurt by Neshaminy put the home team up 24-17 late and while senior Amy Tao came up with a couple of points for the visitors, New Hope went down 25-20 when Anastasia Vasilyeva blocked a ball at the net for the winning point that favored the hosts.
The second set was closer, though the Lions lost 25-22. Neshaminy’s last two points in the game came by way of unforced errors committed by New Hope.
“I think it was just nerves,” explained Chuma. “(This was) our first official away game.”
“Our first game, we had a huge student section at home,” added Kraemer. “Getting used to being away and not having that same kind of energy definitely is a little bit of a lower playing level.
“It’s just getting used to each other, getting used to our opponent and what we need to do to better ourselves.”
New Hope takes the court this season for the first time without the services of opposite Cooper Sorin, libero Alison Somers and Grace Hanley, a three-year starter at setter. All three graduated in June while Hanley and Somers were All-Suburban One League (SOL) nominees.
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