Hayley Martens was in the mood to celebrate Wednesday night — for good reason.
The Allen Community College sophomore, whose birthday is today, gave herself an early present by delivering game-winning kills in all three sets in a volleyball sweep of visiting Fort Scott Community College.
The Red Devils downed Fort Scott 25-14, 26-24, 25-20 in the ACC gymnasium.
“We’re a whole different team when we come together,” Martens said. “We picked a great time to have the team understand that when we play together, we can do it.”
The match’s pivotal moment — if there can be one in a three-game sweep — came in the waning moments of the second set.
Allen forged ahead 23-20 before Fort Scott rattled off four straight points, pushing the Greyhounds to the brink of a set win.
Head coach Brenda Peters called a time out to remind Allen that despite the one-point deficit, the Devils were still in control of the match.
The Red Devils rallied for the next point to tie the score at 24-24 with a Goodman kill. A Greyhound error on a service return put ACC up 25-24. Martens hammered home the kill for the game-winner, putting the Red Devils up 2-0.
Allen maintained the momentum in the final set, never trailing by more than two points and eventualy pulling away late.
Peters noted Fort Scott was never able to string more than three consecutive points in the contest.
Martens registered 11 kills and an ace to lead Allen on offense and 17 digs on the defensive side. Sierra Morgison was just behind with 10 kills, an ace and 14 digs. Jacqui Ortiz and Adriee Munoz registered 22 and 15 set assists, respectively. Ortiz also had 15 digs. Tayler Shook had 16 digs. Randi Billings notched two blocks.
“I reminded the girls that Hayley’s kills were our kills,” Peters said. “We’re a team. And she said it exactly right. When you come together, you can do big things. This was a team effort. All of our girls were involved in tonight’s win.”
The win also puts Peters on the cusp of a personal milestone; it was the 99th of her career.
The Red Devils, 11-11, have a week off before hosting Coffeyville Community College next Wednesday.
“The break comes at a good time,” Peters said. “The girls have some confidence. We can take some time and build on this, which is what we’ll need because we have a lot of key conference games ahead of us.”
