SHELBYVILLE, IL. — Shelbyville volleyball started their 2010 season sweeping Taylorville out of the Lady Rams' gym, 25-16, 25-14, in varsity action and, 25-20, 25-21 in the JV  tilt.

“I thought this was a pretty solid first match,” said Ram Coach Lisa Peifer. “There are some things to be smoothed out, of course, but I liked a lot of things I saw tonight.”

One thing that Taylorville could not find an answer for was new senior setter Hollie Schultz’s quick tips. Schultz scored seven of the 28 Ram kills quick-tipping, instead of setting the hitters. With Shannon “Sonic” Boone softening up the defense and Taylor Rhodes’ counter-punch crunch in game two, it was a 1, 2, 3, combination that was like fighting off a school of piranhas with one hand behind your back. Add in Kelsey Stauder, Brandy Smith and Whitney Fox taking shots and Taylorville was swimming up stream without a paddle.

“I thought we were pretty aggressive both at the net and at the service line,” Coach Peifer said. “Our serve receive errors were few, so that gave us great hitting options. We were able to keep them on the defense most of the night, which helped us control the match. Overall, I was pretty happy with our start.”

Libero Miranda Mason helped provide that solid serve receive, along with Alex Mikeworth and others who rotated to the back. Mason joined Boone in leading the Ram defense with nine digs, each, while Mikeworth and Rhodes got down for six digs apiece.

The single-setter offense worked well with the solid defense in Schultz’s’ first complete match at the position. Schultz not only scored seven times herself, she set the hitters for 18 kills in just two games. She had four digs and also served up two aces, her strength last year behind starting setter Alexis Flore.

Varsity

Shelbyville def. Taylorville, 25-16, 25-14

Ram stats: Hollie Schultz 7 points, 2 aces, 7 kills, 18 assists, 4 digs; Taylor Rhodes 8 points, 9 kills, 6 digs; Miranda Mason 13 points, 1 ace, 9 digs; Kelsey Stauder 1 kill, 1 block; Whitney Fox 1 kill, 2 assists, 2 digs, 1 block; Alex Mikeworth 6 points, 6 digs; Shannon Boone 7 points, 9 kills, 9 digs, 1 block; Brandy Smith 9 points, 1 kill.

In the JV match, the Rams were not as crisp as their varsity teammates and let Taylorville hang around a little longer, but in the end got the 2-game sweep, 25-20, 25-21.

“The girls came out and played well for the 1st match of the season,” said JV coach Jill Miller. “We have a lot of potential and we did several good things tonight. We have some work to do on serve receive and everything else should fall into place.”

It was kill by committee for the Ram JV as five hitters shared ten kills in the two game set. They were led by middle hitter Alissa Hudson with three kills. The defense, was a team effort as well and key to hanging on for the win. Seven Rams shared 34 digs. Five of the Rams had six or seven digs, led by Brooke Eisenbarth with seven. Libero Karli Robinson had six. Eisenbarth and Taylor Wilcox led at the line, serving up two aces, each, while scoring a team-high 10 and 12 points, respectively. Single setter Maggie Bosgraaf dished out seven of the 11 team assists and had the only Ram block.

JV

Shelbyville 25-20, 25-21

Ram stats: Maggie Bosgraaf 7 points, 7 assists, 6 digs, 1 block; Sammy Hendrix 3 points, 1 dig; Taylor Wilcox 12 points, 2 aces, 2 kills; Casey Wheeler 7 points, 2 kills, 4 assists, 6 digs; Cinnae Martin 3 points, 1 kill, 6 digs; Brooke Eisenbarth 10 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 7 digs; Alissa Hudson 7 points, 3 kills, 2 digs; Karli Robinson 6 digs.

In the fresh-soph prelude, Shelby had to settle for a 2-game split, 25-18, 22-25.

“We started out a little slow this evening,” said fresh-soph coach Brittany Pierce. “I know the girls were nervous, though, so it was good to finally have our first match and get the nerves out. Jensen Cloe had an awesome night at the service line and really provided us with some fire. She served up 20 points, 10 of them aces.

“I thought the girls showed some hustle at many points in the match, which was fun to watch. We definitely have some things to work on before next week, but I know the girls will work hard to build on what we did tonight.

Fresh-Soph

Shelbyville split, 25-18, 22-25

Ram stats: Jensen Cloe 20 points, 10 aces, 4 digs; Lindsey Eigsti 4 points, 1 ace, 9 assists, 2 digs; Morgan Voyles 5 points, 2 aces, 3 digs; Bailey Ambrose 5 kills; Miranda Bricker 6 points, 1 dig; Briana Ruff 2 points, 2 digs; Kayla Brachbill 6 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 3 digs; Sydney Linville 2 kills; Julia Bolinger 3 points, 1 ace, 3 kills; Becca Johnson 4 digs; Sandra Williams 1 dig; Kelsie Frederick 1 point.

Shelbyville varsity (1-0, 0-0 Okaw), JV (1-0, 0-0 Okaw) and fresh-soph (0-0-1) are off until next Thursday when they host Mattoon.