Girls volleyball: Avon beats Amherst to stay undefeated

AVON — There's not much missing from Avon's volleyball team so far this season. The unbeaten Eagles easily won their ninth straight match Thursday — fifth straight in the Southwestern Conference — by beating Amherst 25-14, 25-12, 25-13. "Very dynamic, lots of depth on our team," Avon coach Kara Coffman said. "I thought we did a good job. We're still working through our first round of conference play. We're trying to send a message that we want to defend our conference title." Avon not only won the SWC a year ago but advanced all the way to the state final four. The message is pretty clear. The Eagles want to repeat both missions and maybe even get a state championship in the process. Seniors Lily Hamilton, Londyn Stone, Kaitlyn Pojman and Bethany Sherwood spread the wealth around in all areas. Hamilton and Pojman did their share of setting things up. Stone and Sherwood were there to knock things down or make great blocks at the net and both Hamilton and Pojman did very well at the service line. "We've really been focusing on blocking at practice," Coffman said. "It really showed. It was really nice to see. Offensively, both of our middles are very, very strong." Sherwood was in on eight blocks and Pojman four. Hamilton had 17 assists and Pojman had nine. "We have Bethany (Sherwood) up there and she's just a monster," Hamilton said. "It's nice to have her on our side." "Our setters are absolutely insane," Sherwood said. "One game at a time. We're focusing on the smaller goals — the conference championship and then after completing some of our smaller goals going onto higher goals. We'll take it one step at a time now. We have a lot of talented players on the front row." Sophomore libero Ally Brediger was all over the floor digging up shots on defense and Coffman had good efforts from junior Peyton Reinart and freshman Clare Freaney as well. Avon finished the first set on a 9-0 run and jumped in front 7-2 in the second set and was never really threatened. In the final set, the Eagles outscored Amherst 9-1 to break open a 16-12 score to win going away. Pojman started the run with four straight aces. Senior Kendal Dobbins finished with 11 kills for Amherst (3-6, 2-3 SWC). The Candelario sisters — junior Liv and sophomore Lola — combined for four blocks and two aces. Dani Dury had 14 digs. "We have to be a little more disciplined," Amherst coach Courtney Rua said. "Our block was late everywhere. (Avon) pretty much had a wide-open net. They could go to any spot they wanted to — a lot of one-on-one. They're a very good team." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7235 or timothygeb@msn.com. Avon 25-25-25, Amherst 14-12-13 KILLS: (Av) Londyn Stone 13. (Am) Kendal Dobbins 11. ASSISTS: (Av) Lily Hamilton 17. (Am) Callie Beckler 13. BLOCKS: (Av) Bethany Sherwood 8. (Am) Liv Candelario, Lola Candelario 2. DIGS: (Av) Ally Brediger 12. (Am) Dani Dury 14. ACES: (Av) Lily Hamilton 5. (Am) Liv Candelario 2.