By George Bremer
The Herald Bulletin
PENDLETON, Ind. —
Pendleton Heights junior Megan Criswell controlled long stretches of Tuesday’s 25-11, 25-21, 25-9 victory against Lapel.
And Arabians head coach Pancho Alvarez hopes her performance will be an inspiration for some of the younger players in attendance.
Alvarez, who led the Bulldogs for five years before joining Pendleton Heights last year, was hosting his former team for the first time. The day began with freshman and junior varsity matches, giving fans a good look at both programs.
But it also allowed the next generation of Bulldogs and Arabians to get a good look at their future.
What they got was an eye-full of Criswell.
The 5-foot-6 outside hitter led the way with 12 kills, but she really put a stranglehold on the match with her serve. She officially was credited with six aces, but that just begins to describe the havoc she wreaked.
With Game 2 tied 10-10, Criswell scored on five consecutive serves without an effective return from Lapel. That breathing room was necessary as the Bulldogs answered with a 6-2 run to cut their deficit to one.
In Game 3, Criswell effectively put the match away with five consecutive unreturned serves that turned a healthy 15-7 margin into an insurmountable 20-7 lead.
“When she’s on with her jump serve like that it breaks a team’s spirit,” Alvarez said. “But it doesn’t have to be the jump serve. She can be just as effective standing down there on the line. It’s all about being aggressive with your serve. If they can’t receive the serve, Stephanie Miller can’t hit. And if Stephanie Miller can’t hit, they’re in a world of hurt.”
Miller, a senior attacker, sparked a Game 2 rally after Lapel was squashed in the opener. Pendleton Heights scored 19 of the match’s first 22 points to set the tone in Game 1.
“I thought we played a little scared, honestly,” Lapel coach Ashley Andryuk said. “That first game, we were a little bit scared.”
Miller had three kills as Lapel rallied from an early 9-6 deficit to tie the Arabians at 10-10 in Game 2. Pendleton Heights pulled away again at 15-10 and 21-16, but the Bulldogs stayed in the game with their block.
Lapel sent back three Arabians’ attacks in the game and pulled even again at 21-21 on an ace from sophomore Stephanie Pritchett.
“I was really proud of the way we played in the second game,” Andryuk said. “We played with a lot of heart. We came out and gave (a fight) to them.”
Pendleton Heights junior Olivia Mitchell, who had a match-high 31 assists, broke the deadlock with a kill and added an ace to put the Arabians up 23-21. Criswell’s kill brought Pendleton Heights to game point, and a Lapel attack error ended the contest.
The Arabians erased a 5-4 deficit in Game 3 with a 9-1 run before Criswell began her second serving clinic.
Alvarez said it’s important for young players to get club volleyball experience in the offseason like Criswell has.
He prefers multisport athletes on the whole, because their conditioning tends to be better, but he said players who aren’t competing in other high school sports should take advantage of the local club scene — especially the nationally renowned programs at Munciana.
Lapel has two freshmen in its starting lineup — Bailee Scribner and Rachel Thalls — and both are Munciana veterans. Alvarez said those players are major building blocks for Andryuk’s program.
Meanwhile, he’d like to see more Pendleton Heights’ athletes follow Criswell’s lead. And he’d like to see her control more matches the way she did Tuesday.
“I told her I like aggressive Megan,” he said. “Passive Megan is not one of my better volleyball players. She was aggressive today, and we got a good win.”
