Apex Volleyball Hits the Road to Play a Strong JPII

Savannah Apex Varsity faced a very talented John Paul II team and battled all the way through five sets in a match that gave us plenty of positives to take away.

JPII brought a deep roster, including several experienced club athletes. Apex entered the match without Sophia Paxton (#2), as she continues to recover from an elbow injury, but our girls competed hard through five sets and kept finding ways to stay in the match.

Defensively, Apex put together a strong performance, finishing with 68 digs and going 76-for-85 in serve receive for 89% as a team.

Alexis Cutler (#13) led the back-row effort with 22 digs and handled a team-high 40 serve-receive attempts, finishing 36-for-40 for 90%. She also added an ace and 2 assists.

Alexandria Dearman (#0) had a strong defensive match as well, recording 10 digs on 11 attempts and going 15-for-16 in serve-receive for 94%. She also added an ace from the service line.

Aubrey Gerke (#6) led the Apex offense with 12 kills on 44 attack attempts. She also contributed 10 digs, went 14-for-16 in serve receive for 88%, and added a block.

Kayleigh Grier (#4) contributed across the court with 3 kills, 3 aces, 10 digs and 2 blocks. She also handled 12 serve-receive attempts, finishing 10-for-12.

Clemy Baladi (#20) gave Apex a strong presence at the net with 4 kills and a team-high 5 blocks. She also went 3-for-3 defensively.

Abigail Stephens (#19) added a kill, an ace, and a block for Apex.

Reagan Martinez (#21) ran the offense and finished with 17 assists while also contributing 12 digs and an ace. She successfully handled 12 of her 14 defensive attempts.

Zoe Hauger (#16) continued to work on the right side, taking 9 swings while also recording a dig and successfully handling her serve-receive opportunity.

Varsity Team Stats

• Aces: 7
• Kills: 20
• Blocks: 9
• Assists: 19
• Digs: 68
• Serve Receive: 76/85 — 89%

There were a lot of things to like about this match. Aubrey led the offense, Clemy and Kayleigh combined for seven blocks at the net, Reagan continued to run the offense, and our back row handled a lot of pressure from a strong serving team.

The 89% team serve-receive number is especially worth highlighting. Alexis and Alexandria combined to successfully handle 51 of 56 serve-receive attempts, while Aubrey and Kayleigh added another 24 successful receptions.

More than anything, going five sets with a talented and deep JPII team showed a lot about this group. We might not have a large bench to rotate through, but our girls continued competing point after point and set after set.

They did exactly that.

We’re not disappointed in a match where our girls played hard and competed for five sets against a good volleyball team. Matches like this are exactly what we want on our schedule. They challenge us, show us where we can improve, and allow our players to compete against strong teams.

There is always more to work on, but there were plenty of positives to take from this one and plenty to build on as the season continues.

Set Scores

• Set 1: 24–26 (L)
• Set 2: 25–23 (W)
• Set 3: 25–19 (W)
• Set 4: 16–25 (L)
• Set 5: 10–15 (L)