New Philadelphia’s volleyball team righted its ship a bit last week, winning back-to-back Ohio Cardinal Conference matches to pull its conference record back to .500 through six matches. The Quakers, who had lost four consecutive outings and 5-of-6 to start the year, were 3-6 overall but headed into the week and a Tuesday match at rival Dover with a little momentum.
Last week the Quakers topped Madison Comprehensive in four sets before taking down West Holmes in three. Junior Eberle Baker had a strong week at the net as the team’s kill leader in both matches.
Against Madison, New Philadelphia won 25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 25-17. Baker had a big match with 15 kills, five aces. Junior Kiera Mason had a pair of blocks
Junior Kaitrin Bumworth led the team with 16 digs. Senior Aubrie Watson had 13 and freshman Ella Range added 12. Running the offense, senior Marisa Loader logged 20 assists, with junior Lilyanna adding a dozen.
Against West Holmes, which the Quakers put away in quick fashion – 25-21, 25-7, 25-6 – there wasn’t a lot of chance to rack up numbers. Baker still notched nine kills to lead at the net. Freshman Abby Sweitzer added seven.
Senior Emily Hootman had five aces among 24 serves for an impressive .208 ace percentage. Sophomore Stella Halter had four of her 10 serves find the ground.
Watson led the way with 15 digs, nearly half of the Quakers’ total. Loader and Wells both posted nine assists.
Dover promised to be a bit tougher test, taking a 7-1 record (4-1 OCC) into the Sept. 8 match. The only blemish was a three-set loss to first-place Wooster. The Tornadoes are ranked No. 6 in Division III in the state coaches poll.
Boys soccer
The Quakers broke a three-game losing streak with a 1-0 Ohio Cardinal Conference win at Dover on Sept. 2 but dropped a 2-1 league match at Lexington to move to 1-4-1 overall, 1-2-1 in the conference. Cade Jones’ goal late in the first half was the only score in the win over the Tornadoes.
Girls soccer
It’s been a struggle for the Quakers on the pitch. They headed into the week on a six-game losing streak, the last five of them shutouts. That included an 8-0 defeat at Ashland, Ranked No. 16 in the state in Division III by Maxpreps, along with a 2-0 loss at Dover and a 10-0 defeat at home against Lexington. New Philadelphia headed into matches this week with Cambridge and West Holmes looking reverse the tide a bit.
Boys cross country
The Quakers placed fourth among 13 teams in a talent-packed Division I race at the Wooster Invitational last Saturday. New Philadelphia finished with 131 points, not too far back of champion Hudson’s 90. Seniors Marcus and Alex Adelman led the Quakers with fifth- and 15th-place finishes, respectively. Senior Kyle Beaber placed 27th, junior Kevin Smith was 48th, and Branson Pringle checked in 134th to round out the Quakers’ scorers. There were 404 runs in the race.
Girls cross country
In the girls race at Wooster, junior Kyle Smith paced the Quakers with a 36th-place finish as New Philadelphia came in 16th place among 19 teams in the big-school girlsrace. Senior Kaitlyn Doughty was next, coming in 151st, followed by sophomore Kamri Patterson (211th), junior Devlin Herrington (214th) and senior Faith Swaldo (218th). More than 270 runners finished the girls race, which was won by Wadsworth with 74 points.
