By John Molene

The Wolfpack is playing its best volleyball of the season, said two Park players following a three-game sweep of visiting New Life Academy Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Park swept the visitors 25-16, 25-16 and 25-21 to improve to 6-2 on the season. The Wolfpack were in control in the first and second games, then rallied from a 14-17 deficit to win the third and final set.

“This is the best we’ve played collectively,” said Park head coach Amy Johnson. “We’ve had games where our passing and defense has been strong, but maybe not our hitting. Times our hitting has been strong but maybe not our passing. Today we put it all together. I’ve told this team that when we put it all together, we’re going to be a very difficult team to beat.

“It’s a very special group of girls and it’s so much fun to coach them,” Johnson continued. “I feel privileged.

New Life fell to 4-5 overall.

“I think we did really well playing as a team and playing together and cheering each other on and making sure that we weren’t getting down on each other,” said setter Addy Glide who had 32 assists. “In practice we’ve been trying to get defense and offense coming together instead or just one or another and I think we really executed that today. Honestly this has probably been the best game we’ve played so far this season.”

Park got very strong front line play, with four players notching seven kills or more. Sophomore Sonja Lind had 10 kills and a .500 hitting percent, sophomore Carly Slusser had 7 kills and a .313 hitting percent, senior Kendall Lewis had 8 kills and a .538 hitting percentage and Camden Kemmetmueller got 7 kills with a .200 hitting percentage.

“We hit at .366 percent which is an outstanding efficiency for our attackers,” said Johnson.

“We moved the ball around to different hitters,” Johnson noted. “It wasn’t the same hitter every single time. When we can do that, the other team can’t really adjust, and they can’t camp out at any one girl when they know that every single girl in our front row can hit the ball. So moving that ball around to different hitters is very, very key for us.”

Senior libero Megan Husaby had 12 digs, Lind six and Skyler Croker four.

“I think that our passing started off really well and we communicated, and we talked with our offense and so when our defense and our offense connect together, I think we come together as a team and we play overall our best performance,” said Husaby.

Park (0-0, 6-2) plays at Woodbury (0-1, 3-7) Thursday, Sept. 22.

Outside hitter Carly Slusser of the Wolfpack slams a shot down against New Life. Photo by John Molene

Park players celebrate a three-game sweep of visiting New Life Acacdemy. Photo by John Molene

Park’s Ella Hoge (12) and Kendall Lewis (14) go up to block a New Life attack Tuesday. Photo by John Molene