Gibbons Advances To 2A Regional Finals

Cardinal Gibbons ends Jags' season
By Tony Castleberry, The Greenville Daily Reflector
Sunday, October 30, 2005

FARMVILLE – Catholic schools teach charity, but Cardinal Gibbons High was not very generous at Farmville Central on Saturday night.

The Crusaders invaded the Jaguars' gym for an NCHSAA third-round Class 2-A state playoff volleyball match and promptly ended FC's season in convincing fashion, recording a 25-9, 25-9, 25-11 sweep. Farmville finishes the year with a stellar 19-2 record while Gibbons (30-2) moves on to the semifinal round against the First Flight-Swansboro winner on Tuesday.

Cardinal Gibbons, a private school in Raleigh which plays in the Mid-State Conference, left little doubt about which team would advance Saturday. The Crusaders thoroughly dominated the match from the first serve. Farmville did not hold a lead or manage to tie any of the three games.

"They're a very good team," Jags coach Tara Aman said. "They have a lot of experience playing together. They play at a whole different level."

That was clear early on as Gibbons raced out to a huge lead in Game 1. A Katie Kabbes ace made it 9-1 and the rout was officially on. CG's cushion continued to expand until the Crusaders took their biggest lead of the game, 24-8. After a Farmville point, Gibbons' Tara Enzweiler recorded a kill to give CG a 25-9 victory.

Farmville Central served to start the second game, but Gibbons wasted no time getting the serve back and taking the lead when a Kabbes kill put the Crusaders in front. They scored five points before the Jaguars got on the board on a Megan Zullo kill, but that didn't slow the visitors down.

Gibbons charged ahead 17-4 behind a nearly flawless serve-receive game and rolled along until Ginny Phillips' kill gave the Crusaders their biggest lead on game point, ending it 25-9.
In Game 3, CG looked even more impressive early on, building an 11-1 lead. Farmville got a little momentum with a 3-1 spurt on a Lashonna Shannon kill and two rare Gibbons' return errors, but even after those points, CG still led 20-7. The Crusaders ended the game and the match – 25-11 – on Caroline Hammersley's kill.

It was another relatively easy victory for Gibbons, which was led by Hammersley's 10 kills and Christina Falcone's 36 assists and seven aces. When asked if all of their state playoff matches have gone this smoothly, Crusaders coach Jim Freeman was honest.

"Well, I guess we have (had it easy)," he said. "They're an experienced bunch. They feel pretty good about themselves.
"The key to everything is ball control. If we do a good job out of serve receive, then we can run our offense and we look pretty good."
For FC, it was a disappointing end to another successful season.
"We had a good season and hate it had to end this way," Aman said.

Tony Castleberry can be reached at (252) 329-9591 or at tcastleberry@coxnc.com.