MiscRamblers Sweep Stingers to Advance to NVA Championship Match

Stingers took an early 5-point lead with an even spread of the offense by #4 Leo Durkin. On top of getting a kill himself, Leo put his team to work with #24 Alex Shmelev, #15 Inovel Romero, #10 Jake Langlois, and #9 Jorge Mencia scoring by 13-8. The Ramblers were led early in the game with kills by #20 Brandon Rattray, #2 Sean Dennis, #15 Kevin Lopez, and an early blocking presence by #11 Antwain Aguillard. After Ramblers tied the score by setting up the middle lane with Dennis, Rattray was able to ramp up his offensive performance with consecutive kills to give the Ramblers a 2-point lead at 17-15. Stingers only scored three more points the rest of the set on a kill by Mencia and two unforced errors by the Ramblers, all while committing four hitting errors themselves. The Ramblers closed out the set on kills by Aguillard, Lopez, Rattray and Mather; 25-18. 

Set number two, the Ramblers won the first point from a Stingers’ service error and ran with the lead from there. The Ramblers’ slowly increased their lead on kills by all their hitters with Rattray, Mather, Lopez, Aguillard, and a dump by setter #8 Michael Keegan putting them 10-5. Stingers played from behind the entire set and only managed to cut the deficit to one point. But each time, the Ramblers bounced back to increase their lead back to two or three points. While the Stingers continued to score on the pins with kills by Langlois, Romero, and Mencia, the Ramblers couldn’t seem to go wrong as Rattray and Mather found every hole in the block. After the Stingers scored on a Ramblers’ hitting error at 20-19, Rattray had a service run that included two back row kills and a service ace for a 23-19 lead. The set ended with a statement from the middle with a kill by Dennis for a 25-20 Ramblers’ win. 

For set three, the Stingers got off to a good start taking an early lead with two kills by Mencia and a Ramblers’ hitting error. But after the Ramblers tied the score at 5-5 from a powerful cross-court kill by Lopez, they scored three consecutive points as the Stingers couldn’t prevent their own errors or stop Rattray and Mather from going on a field day at the net. The Stingers retook the lead at 11-11 after a kill by Langlois, but the Ramblers took the lead back to 14-12 as the Stingers defense was helpless to stop consecutive kills by Mather and Lopez. At this point, Stingers Coach Mike Daniel was desperate to find a solution subbing in #11 Setter Hamilton Day and Outside #8 Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga for Durkin and Romero. However, the changes were too late as Mather played some of his best volleyball ever since, struggling to find his rhythm in the regular season. With a service ace and two kills, Mather pushed the most significant lead thus far at 23-15. The Stingers scored one more point on a kill by Fa’agata, doing his absolute best to keep any hope of winning alive. Despite Storm’s heroic effort, the Ramblers won the match with kills from the Ramblers’ newest player, Lopez, and veteran middle Aguillard 25-16. 

Follow the link to watch the full match on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VlfwAzpCog 

• NVA Staff Writer

 

Match Statistics

 

Ramblers: 

#20 Brandon Rattray – 17 Points (14 Kills, 3 Aces)

#14 Ryan Mather – 12 Points (9 Kills, 3 Blocks)

#11 Antwain Aguillard – 5 Points (4 Kills, 1 Block)

#2 Sean Dennis – 5 Points (4 Kills, 1 Block)

#15 Kevin Lopez – 7 Points (7 Kills) 

 

Stingers:

#15 Inovel Romero – 9 Points (9 Kills)

#10 Jake Langlois – 9 Points (8 Kills, 1 Ace)

#9 Jorge Mencia – 9 Points (7 Kills, 1 Ace, 1 Block) 

#4 Leo Durkin – 3 Points (2 Kills, 1 Ace)

#8 Alex Shmelev – 3 Points (1 Kill, 1 Ace, 1 Block)