The Junior Varsity Dons brought home their 7th straight victory on Thursday, beating their cross-Carquinez opponents, the St. Patrick-St. Vincent Bruins, 25-17 and 25-9. Dons hitters recorded 19 kills, including 5 each by Hanna Hageboeck and Sofie Foster, while the team’s 19 service aces put both sets out of reach.

The Dons held off a valiant start by the 6-player Bruins, who fought to a 4-3 lead in the first set. That changed with Ryann Jones’ 5-point serving run, which was kept alive by a heroic diving save by Georgia Winkles. After trading several points, the Dons pulled away to 18-8 under the swirling serves of Lyanne Wong and a leaping, behind-the-line slam from Hageboeck.

After a Bruins timeout and service exchanges between the two teams, the Dons recovered the ball on a jaw-dropping rally that started with a deep pass over the net by Hageboeck, followed by a partial block by Foster, to a left-fisted saving pass from Ava Bunton back to Foster, who then set to Mara Korzeniowska, who tipped the ball back over to the flustered Bruins. Bunton’s next Dons point slammed the ball into the opponents’ court and out the open doors of the gym, where it rolled in the direction of the soccer field, apparently in search of a more gentle career, before finally being retrieved. The Dons soon closed out the set on a tall arc by Marissa Hill that touched down in the vacant middle of the Bruins court.

The Dons ran away quickly in the second set, helped greatly by Jasmine Frost’s 10-point serving banquet, in which she clocked a team-high 6 aces for the night, backed also by blistering kills from Hageboeck and Maddie Bacon. The Dons pressed their 13-3 lead to 17-4 and 20-6, and closed out the last points with passes from Wong to Elsa Simas, who fed the fusillades of Foster and Frost, and a second ace by Korzeniowska.

The game can be viewed here: https://app.sporfie.com/events/-Ma65A04FBjITB7rN2Rq?_branch_match_id=923767081448383406