Aurora brings polish to York

It was the season opener for both teams Thursday night, but in watching the Aurora Huskies play, one would have never thought so.

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The Aurora girls who came in rated as high as No. 4 in the pre-season polls, had no problems with the Dukes as they swept past the hosts 25-11, 25-6 and 25-12.

The Huskies used big runs throughout the match to keep the Dukes from even coming close to the lead.

Aurora jumped to an 8-0 advantage in game one, and York came no closer than seven points.
In the second game another 11-0 run put the York team down 12-1 and they never were able to make any kind of run as the Husky front line of Shelby Gowen, Jessie Allen, Laura McQuiston and Jennifer Ashby never let up the entire game.

York’s only lead of the entire game was at 1-0 in the third set, but Aurora went back on top 4-2 before the Dukes used an Alexa Rosenau kill and a wide attack on the Huskies.

Slowly, the Aurora girls pulled away as they led 12-5 prompting a timeout by head coach Stacey Hall.

The Dukes cut the deficit to six at 13-7, but a 5-1 run pretty much sealed the deal.

Hall said the Dukes have to improve their defense if they want to stay in games with teams like Aurora. “Our game plan was to take away their hit with a consistent block, but we couldn’t get a hand on their hits,” said Hall. “We are used to a shorter ball instead of the high hit, and that just kind of took us off our game enough to keep us from getting a hand on the ball. They looked polished and they made us look bad.”

York was led in kills by Rosenau with five on 15-18 swings, Jordan Knight finished with three on 14-21 while Brittani Smith registered two on 6-12 hitting. In setting the Dukes were led by Jen Harlow with 58-59, 12 assists.

Gowen and Allen each unofficially finished with nine and eight kills respectively, and Allen added three ace blocks.

“Our passing has to get better and we have to start digging some balls on defense,” Hall explained. “Our passes were into the referee stand and it was difficult to get a good set at times. I have to give Aurora credit. They hit the ball well, they were serving us tough and they were taking what they got and making the best of it.”

The Dukes (0-1) will be back in action on Tuesday, Sept. 9, when they host the Columbus Lakeview Vikings.

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