Electric Panthers offense sweeps Blue Devils

Apr. 26—SAEGERTOWN — The Saegertown volleyball team swept Cambridge Springs despite a close third set on Thursday night.

The Panthers' offense took over in the first two sets of this Region 1 game (25-13, 25-10), taking advantage of good sets and digs to keep the tempo up and find holes in the Cambridge defense.

"First two sets we played great," said Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson. "We started out playing some good defense, and Jackson Scott ran a fantastic offense tonight for us."

Collin Jones, Sam Draa and Jackson Scott led the lethal Saegertown offense. Jones led the team from the outside hitter position with 22 kills. Draa was just behind him, tallying 21 kills. Scott totaled 22 assists as the setter of the offense.

Saegertown controlled the momentum through all three sets by staying clean on defense, allowing the Panthers to get reset on offense and get the ball to their outside hitters, who picked at the corners of the court all night.

"They (Cambridge) played well in the first part of that third set and we ended up coming back," said Johnson.

The third set (25-23) was the closest set of the night, and Saegertown started to lose some momentum as Cambridge began to build up points on offense. However, the Panthers hung in tough and didn't let the Blue Devils get a lead that was too big to come back from. In the later volleys of the third, Saegertown found their groove serving, and got those last few points they needed to complete the sweep.

The Blue Devils played their best set in the third, fixing miscommunications on defense and getting serving opportunities. Parker Schmidt was the leader of Cambridge's offense, tallying 11 kills from the outside. Isaiah Simpson was second in kills with four, and Ian Anderson was third with three. Darrin Peterson led with 18 assists, and also tallied eight digs, leading the team.

"I think we came out a little scared," said Cambridge head coach John Turner. "Then we settled in. That third game could've easily went either way."

Cambridge came out hot to start the third set, keeping pace on offense. The Blue Devils controlled their digs and got consistent sets to their slammers to slowly build a lead.

"The last set they played well," said Turner. "They were moving, they were picking up balls. I was pleased with the third set, they didn't hang their heads when they made a mistake."

Saegertown is now 8-1 overall, and 6-0 in the region. Cambridge Springs is 4-5, and 3-2 in the region. Both will travel to Hempfield High School for a tournament on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Trevor Teubner can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at trevor@meadvilletribune.com.