Park Hill South senior Kaori Donham strikes in a rivalry clash against Park Hill on April 14.
The Park Hill South boys volleyball team swept its way to a conference road win on April 14, defeating Park Hill 3-0 at the Trojan Athletic Center.
The Panthers are now 3-0 against the Trojans in regular-season play, winning nine of 10 sets against their district rivals over the past two seasons. While South had runs of dominance in their most recent triumph, the match still highlighted areas for improvement going forward.
Park Hill South earned 13 straight points off of serves delivered by sophomore libero Tre Chen.
“Anytime we can beat a rival 3-0, that is a good win, but I think we had a lot of things that we need to clean up in order to be better,” head coach Zach Coughlin said.
Park Hill South’s most dominant set was the first, which they won 25-11. After beginning the opening set tied 10-10, South proved unstoppable on a 15-1 run to take the first set in emphatic fashion.
Sophomore libero Tre Chen served for most of the Panthers’ first-set run, winning 13 consecutive points with five aces before a service error gave Park Hill a rare point. Park Hill returned with a service error of their own to give the Panthers a set point, which Alex Foot won after an attacking error.
The second set was more competitive, although Park Hill South remained in control. They led by as many as eight points, with Alex Foot stepping forward to win the second set 25-18 for South with a powerful kill off his right hand, putting the Panthers ahead 2-0.
While the Panthers never trailed in the third set, and even had a comfortable 8-point lead early on, Park Hill made South earn it the rest of the way. The Trojans eventually battled back to trail by a single point numerous times, but were unable to complete the comeback before Kaori Donham smashed the victory home to take the third set 25-23.
Park Hill took a timeout after going down 11-3 to start the third set, fighting to gradually climb their way to get back into the set with a 14-6 run. South never trailed in the final set and had enough of a response to close out the sweep, but it still left the Panthers with some questions after nearly letting the lead slip away.
“We have to stay in control when things are going well, and when things aren’t going well,” Coughlin said. “We just have to be calm on the court and make good decisions.”
Kaori Donham sets up a teammate against Park Hill.
Donham and Foot were among Park Hill South’s leading attackers with eight kills each, although Peter Ensminger came off the bench to produce 10 kills, striking the ball at 40%. Donham led the way elsewhere with 15 assists and 12 digs while Chen finished with 18 points and six aces from 23 serves.
For Park Hill South, it was important to defeat Park Hill after the Trojans had ended the Panthers’ season last year with an upset in the district semifinal. While nothing had to be spoken publicly about that result, it still lingers in the Panthers’ minds.
“We didn’t talk about it, but I’m sure it was in our minds,” Coughlin said. “I’m sure it was in everybody’s mind. As much as it is to win these matches, they won the important one last year, which was districts. We have to figure out how to do better when we face them in the most important time.”
South completed another conference sweep of North Kansas City on April 16, opening a six-match homestand. Standing at 11-5 overall, with a 3-1 conference record, the Panthers hope to extend their conference title hopes on April 21 when they host the first-place St. Joseph Central Indians.
The Panthers’ remaining homestand will feature Oak Park (April 23), Rockhurst (April 28) and conclude with a rematch against Park Hill (April 30). With some energetic personalities, South hopes to mix the energy with composure in their final three-week stretch of the regular season in preparation for districts.
“They are a fun squad, but we have to learn how to have that same amount of enthusiasm to make sure that we are able to stay under control as well,” Coughlin said.