YARMOUTH — Margaret McNeil has made the quick adjustment from basketball to volleyball quite nicely.
McNeil, who is coming off a strong senior basketball season, and her Yarmouth teammates continued to make the most of their shortened volleyball campaign with a three-set victory Friday against Windham at Harrison Middle School.
McNeil served 10 straight points in Yarmouth’s 25-7 win in the first game and served up 10 more in a 25-9 second game. She added six points in the third game as the two-time Class B state champions closed it out with a 25-12 win to improve to 4-0.
“(Serving’s) not something (Margaret’s) known for on our team, but she’s getting a lot of service points,” said Yarmouth Coach Jim Senecal. “She’s smart at the service line, looking for gaps and weaknesses. It’s good to see. She’s such a great athlete. Her instincts are really strong.”
All of Yarmouth’s strengths were on display in the first game, as Avery Dube thwarted the best Windham shots, the Clippers got long service runs from McNeil and Sophie Dickson, and Dickson’s pinpoint passing set up powerful hitter Maggie Murray for seven kills. The Eagles scored the first point of the set, but Yarmouth got the next six. Yarmouth rattled off the final 11 points, including 10 straight from McNeil, who had three aces in the process.
In the second game, Windham hung tough early and trailed 8-7 after a kill by Lydia Budroe. After a kill from senior captain Kaitlyn Bennett, McNeil stepped to the service line and dominated again. She rattled off 10 consecutive points, including three straight aces.
“I’ve worked on spot serving in practice and it worked tonight,” McNeil said. “I just got on a roll. I try to look for gaps or hit it higher on their bodies, and it worked tonight.”
Bennett finished off the set with two straight aces. On set point, the ball hit the top of the net and dropped over.
The Eagles refused to go quietly in the third game. After McNeil’s last service run and a kill from Murray made the score 21-7, Windham battled back to 23-12, but a service fault set up match point and the Eagles couldn’t return the ensuing serve.
“Everyone’s pretty excited to play this year,” said Bennett, who had five kills and five service points. “We thought we wouldn’t get a season at all. It’s nice to have a final season for the seniors.”
Murray wound up with 10 kills, while Dickson added 16 assists.
Windham (0-4), which has played two-time reigning Class A champion Falmouth and Yarmouth twice each to start the year, got three kills and an ace from Budroe.
“We’re getting better every time out,” said Eagles Coach Chuck Fleck. “We’ll clean up our inconsistencies and we’ll be competitive. I hope we continue to improve and work on some things that will probably surprise some teams we haven’t seen yet. I think we can be a contender next fall.”
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