The 2022 Mariner home volleyball season opened with an incredibly exciting match on Tuesday, September 6th against the Vikings of Cook County. Unfortunately for the home team, the Mariners dropped the match in five games. A huge crowd for an early season game saw the Vikings win the first game with the Mariners roaring back to win the next two games. Cook County won Game four in another close contest. Game five went back and forth before the Vikings won 16-14.
The Mariners were led by Sophia Blanck with thirty-one set assists and ten digs. Danika Thompson was dominant at the net, with fourteen kills as well as four ace serves. Hope Ernest had an amazing fifteen ace serves and ten digs. Sophomore Katie Carpenter had eight kills and fourteen digs among her overall strong game..
Sophia Blanck is the sophomore setter for the Mariners. “For the first game of the season, I thought we played okay. We definitely had the chance to win. We have a lot of fixable things that we can improve on. We had fun. We missed a lot of serves in the first game, but that really improved as the match wore on. Dani (Thompson) and I worked really well together and I’m anxious to see where we will get to as a team.
” Two days later, the Mariners won their first match of the year, winning three of four games at Wrenshall. Thompson and Carpenter combined for twenty-six kills, Ernest had seventeen digs and Blanck had twenty-nine set assists.
Coach Alicia Nopola said, “Winning is fun, but what meant the most to me was a Wrenshall fan approaching some of our players and coaches and saying how much fun he had watching our team play because of their energy and it was obvious to him that they enjoy playing together. These girls are representing our program the right way.”
The next home game is September 22nd when the Mariners host Cromwell.
