It was closer then Coach Kachinko would like, but the Lady Monarchs (16-11, 1-6) pulled off the victory 3-1 against Delaware Valley (6-21, 0-7) Wednesday night at Scandlon Gymnasium. The win marked King’s first conference win and ended the home season on a good note.
King’s won each of their three sets 25-22 but each was a battle. In what prevailed to be the final set of the game, King’s trailed 20-18, but then stormed back to take a 22-18 lead and eventually won the set on the back of sophomores Jessica Carr and Brenna Smudde.
“We just kept coming,” Kachinko said following the home finale. “There was enthusiasm and energy coming from the bench which was very helpful for our team. I think we made some plays.”
King’s was led on offense by freshman Katelyn Shifflett who had fourteen kills and sophomore Jessica Carr who contributed with 12. The young players seemed to leave Del-Val with no answer late in the game.
When asked if he thought his team played down the inferior opponent, Kachinko insisted that both teams were still playing for something.
“I don’t like to say that in regards to what their record was because look at our record,” Kachinko said. “We were both winless in the conference.”
King’s was without their senior leader and co-captain, Mary Loughran, who suffered a fractured wrist and has been sidelined since last Saturday. Kachinko stressed afterwards that he really felt bad that she had to watch this game from the bench.
And it was the love that the veteran coach had for his upperclassman that pained him during the game. Both watching Loughran on the bench and seeing them play their last home game.
“My seniors, I love dearly,” Kachinko said. “For 23 months I’ve gotten to know them. We are going to miss them greatly but again we are always going to know when we look back that these four people are our main source of why our program continued to grow.”
Delaware Valley dropped their final game of the season, and will finish conference play winless.
Offensively, the Lady Rams were led by senior Gina Page and freshman Maria Cameron. Page ended her career with a tremendous performance racking up 16 kills. Cameron , a 5-11 Hershey, PA native and a promising young talent, had 15 kills and 19 and a half total points.
That seemed to be all the team had going for them, as they tallied 21 errors and had some costly faults in King’s fourth set comeback.
The Lady Monarchs finished seventh in the Freedom Conference and will look to end their season with a win Saturday against SUNY-Maritime in Throggs Neck, New York.
Vito Malacari covers King’s sports for WRKC Digital, follow him on Twitter @VitoMalacari23 or email him at VitoMalacari841@Kings.edu