Champion stifles Poland in 3-0 sweep
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CHAMPION -- Champion has been on a tear this fall.
The Golden Flashes have now won four straight matches to open the season, as they continued their winning ways on Monday with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-13) victory over Poland.
"We're just trying to improve on last year," Flashes head coach Kelly Henson said. "This is my third year as their head coach, and they have bought in from day one what my system was that I'm bringing in. They know there's that expectation, and they're happy being (4-0), but they want to go higher. They keep pushing in practice, and they work so hard that you see it in the game. They know what they've got to change or what they've gotta take care of, so it makes my job a little bit easier."
A big part of Champion's hot start has been the play of senior outside hitter Kennedy Caldwell, who was aggressive and on the attack early against the Bulldogs.
The focal point of the Flashes' offense, Caldwell led the team with 15 kills on Monday. Many of her kills came off her partnership with setter Sophia Cogar, who had 17 assists, and libero Avery Boggs, who led Champion with 22 digs.
"Not only does she provide the hitting, with her defense and her serving, but the biggest thing Kennedy provides for everybody is guidance and leadership," Henson said of Caldwell. "She is out there helping those girls when we're not. A lot of times, I'm like 'Ken, did you get that?' And she's like 'Yes, already took care of it.' So it helps me because she knows and the girls are learning from her that if they're not where they should be, she's going to tell them, 'Hey just move here a little bit.' It's amazing how they all take to each other and nobody is afraid to help the other."
In the first set, Champion jumped out to an early lead. Then after taking a 12-6 advantage, the Flashes held off a brief resurgence by the Bulldogs before finishing off the set on a 9-4 run to take the opening frame 25-13.
The second set, however, was much tighter. The Bulldogs bounced back and quickly jumped ahead by winning the first few points of the set.
But Champion steadied itself and pulled things back. With the set tied 12-all, the Flashes tried to create some separation, but each time, Poland would string together a series of points to hang around and keep things tight.
"I just think we had a lot of errors on our side that obviously resulted in a loss of points. I just think that was a huge part of tonight," Poland head coach Aleah Diamond said. "They're a great team keeping us out of system. But we just have to clean up on our end a little bit."
But in the end, despite the close tally, Champion was able to hold off the Bulldogs to take the second set 25-22, punctuated by an ace from Caldwell on the final point.
Just like Boggs for the Flashes, Poland libero Avery Jakubovic made several acrobatic digs and saves to help keep the Bulldogs alive, particularly in that second set.
"If we were able to limit those (errors), then we definitely would have been able to come back and compete," Diamond said. "Looking back at it, we just have to keep the ball in play a little bit more and move forward from there."
After the slow start to the second set, the Flashes didn't let up to start the third set, racing ahead 7-1 in the opening minutes before going on to finish off the Bulldogs 25-13 in the third to complete the sweep.
"Our defense was amazing. The girls have worked really hard on our coverage, especially my libero Avery Boggs," Henson said. "She's communicating for everybody back there, even when our girls our hitting and our blockers are up front. We got quite a few touches between Kennedy and Taylor (Gearhart), which made a difference for our girls on defense to be able to get the ball up because (Poland) has some nice hitters. When it was tight in that second set, we didn't panic. They don't panic. They know what they gotta do, and they just come together and figure it out."
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