Oct 15, 2019 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – It’s hard to quantify and even harder to measure.

But emotion played a key role for Carmichaels High School’s volleyball team Tuesday night.

Stung by a three-set loss to Geibel in earlier in the season, the Mikes gave a gutsy performance, pulling out a 3-2 victory over previously undefeated Geibel by scores of 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 15-9.

The win probably means the two teams will share the Section 2-A title with 13-1 records if they win Thursday evening’s section and regular-season finales.

The Mikes fed off the energy of senior Taylor Christopher, who finished with 18 kills, many of them the booming, floor-shaking kind.

But it was Emma Hyatt, whose kill for the 14th point in the critical fifth game that seemed to sap Geibel of its will. And when the Gators had a mishit for the Mikes’ game-winner, the large crowd erupted.

“This win means so much,” said Christopher. “It’s so amazing.”

Christopher is a bundle of energy and can’t sit when taken out for a breather.

“I have to be pacing back and forth,” she said. “I have to be moving all the time.”

Mikes head coach Julianne Speeney said the players looked at this match as “a challenge, not a threat.

“We were looking at it as a chance to grow,” she said. “In my book, all of our players were key.”

The Mikes were WPIAL runners-up last season and played in the state tournament.

“We want to go even farther this year,” Christopher said.

Geibel might have something to say about that.

“They had to win. We didn’t have to win,” Geibel head coach Rick Watkins said. “We’re probably going to end up being tied with them. We beat them 3-0 at our place and they beat us 3-2 here. So I see us as the better team in that regard.”

In the first set, the Mikes built a 19-13 lead but the Gators rattled off five of the next seven points to make it 20-18. Geibel scored the next five points for a commanding 23-20 lead. Carmichaels rallied with five straight points, the winner coming on a Geibel mishit.

Geibel built a 19-11 lead in the second game before the Mikes made two short runs near the end. A delicate tip over the net by senior outside hitter Lauren Tomasko found empty space on the other side of the net for a 25-21 victory.

The Mikes trailed 18-15 in the third game but ran off nine of the next 13 points before Christopher wrapped it up with a spike, 25-22.

Geibel sent it to a fifth, and deciding, game, slowly pulling away with some strong strikes and well-placed dinks for a 25-21 victory.

For Carmichaels, Hyatt had five blocks and 14 kills, Nicole Ludrosky had 15 kills and 17 digs, Alie McGee had 37 assists, Sydney Kuis 19 digs and 3 aces, Abigail Fordyce 12 digs, and Emma Holeran 18 points and 3 aces.