Cardinal Newman’s Khylie Remmenga prepares for a kill against Hammond’s Addison Sanders. Photos by Mike Maddock
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The Cardinal Newman Cardinals swept the Hammond Skyhawks 3-0 (25-4, 25-12, and 25-15) Tuesday, September 9 in SCISA 4A volleyball action.
“We came in very strong. We had a very good start with a 25-4 win,” Cardinal Newman interim head coach Matthew Dimapan said. “Everyone was performing their role. I really liked how we executed and finished that first set very well. I think in the second and third set we let off the gas a little bit. It’s just things that we need to get back into the gym and work on. They’re skills like serving, blocking, hitting, and setting. They are all very important. We need to make sure we are ready for those games and the teams we are going to play.”
Cardinal Newman raced out to a 12-0 lead in the first set following points from Khylie Remmenga and Lauren Rivers. Hammond was able to get on the board after a couple Cardinal errors to trim the deficit to 13-2. From there, Remmenga, Rivers, Addisyn Fernandez, Leila Hargrove, and Zailey Vaval all scored during Cardinal Newman’s 12-2 run to win the first set 25-4.
Cardinal Newman’s Addisyn Fernandez focuses on the ball as Hammond’s Anna Claire Sanders looks on.
“Lauren Rivers, our sophomore setter, had a very good game,” Dimapan said. “She had a lot of great assists and was able to connect with our middle blocker. Khylie Remmenga had some very good hits and swings. Lauren is always a general on the floor. She’s always ready to run the floor and have aggressive serving and be aggressive on defense. She’s just an all-around great player. It’s really great to see a player who is so young be good at everything and be so diverse in skill sets.
“Khylie Remmenga is a very big blocker for us and a very impactful player for us. She’s the tallest player on the team. She had some very good hits. It was a great performance by those two and the rest of the team tonight. I’m very proud of them.”
The Cardinals got off to a fast start again in the second set as Remmenga, Rivers, and Vaval scored to open a 5-0 lead. Some Cardinal Newman errors and a point from Addison Sanders helped the Skyhawks close the gap to 6-5. Scoring from Remmenga, Vaval, and Hargrove helped the Cardinals rebound and expand their lead to 17-8. Hammond whittled the deficit to 17-10 following a Cardinal Newman error and a point from Lauren Heaton. The Cardinals closed out the set on an 8-2 run to win 25-12. Remmenga and Fernandez scored during the run for Cardinal Newman.
Hammond’s Lauren Heaton looks for a shot against Cardinal Newman’s Khylie Remmenga.
Through the first ten points of the third set, the teams tied three times with Hammond taking a 4-3 lead following some Cardinals’ miscues and scoring from Sanders. Cardinal Newman regained the lead at 6-5 and proceeded to score ten of the next 13 points to take a 15-9 lead. An error by Cardinal Newman and a point from Anna Claire Sanders trimmed the deficit to 15-11. Fernandez, Emily Cantey, and McKenna Miller each scored to help Cardinal Newman build its lead to 20-11. The Skyhawks had one more run left scoring four of the next six points, with points from Heaton and Brooks Brewer. However, Cardinal Newman closed the match with scoring from Rivers to win the set 25-15 and the match 3-0.
Cardinal Newman is going for its fourth straight SCISA 4A State Championship and fifth in sixth years. The Cardinals improve to 15-1 with the win.
“The importance of tonight’s win was to show consistency, show that we are a very good program in the state,” Dimapan said. “Throughout the season we are going to continue to improve. We’re looking forward to that fifth state championship in six years. I hope the rest of the season goes well. I hope the girls take this season to grow as a team. We have seven seniors, and we want to send them off with a good ending.
Hammond falls to 0-5.
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