web1_Charles-Barber-1-.jpg

Luzerne Foundation’s Millennium Circle gathers ahead of grant season

web1_web1_law1.jpg

Luzerne Borough business accused of selling alcohol to minor

NANTICOKE &#8212; The first set left a little bit to be desired. The Nanticoke Trojans struggled with the pass toward the front row, and found themselves in a huge hole.The final two sets? Well, that&#8217;s something veteran head coach Debbie Gavin can build on.The Trojans pushed Delaware Valley in those last two sets, but the Warriors and outside hitter Brooke Williams were a little too much. The senior finished with a match-high 13 kills as DelVal swept past Nanticoke 3-0 in Wyoming Valley Conference girls&#8217; volleyball play on Tuesday.The Warriors improve to 3-1 with its lone setback coming in a five-set thriller to Holy Redeemer last week. Nanticoke, the defending district 3A champ, falls to 4-2.Set scores were 25-11, 25-21 and 25-22.&#8220;I think they saw that when they play with effort and desire, they can play with a really good team,&#8221; Gavin said. &#8220;The lights went on for our girls a little too late in that first set, but I think we put a little scare into DelVal in the final two sets.&#8221;Really, it&#8217;s a season of phases for Nanticoke.Gavin knew her team had all the ingredients. It would just take some time for everything to blend together.New faces in rotations. A new setter as team leader Jenna Lipowski graduated. Yes, there was still some experience from that district title team, yet everyone was playing entirely new roles.And with a 3A race that appears to be wide open, the Trojans could very well find themselves in the favorite role come the end of October.&#8220;I think our girls know that it&#8217;s serious business when you are the defending champ,&#8221; Gavin said. &#8220;But we also have skills that we need to improve in order to defend that title.&#8221;Tuesday was like a glimpse of the entire picture.At times, Nanticoke looked like a team clicking on all cylinders. Kasey Radginski and Jilann Baron took advantage of nice sets from junior Carly Reakes. Codi Hornlein found herself in position for kills from the back row, and Alyssa Lewis and libero Megan Murphy dug out hard shots from the Warriors.And then, there was the first set where the Trojans struggled with serves from Kristin Volvaka and Evie Kelly, failing to get the ball to the front row to run their offense. Add it to attack miscues and service errors, and Nanticoke found itself down 18-4.&#8220;Our passing needs to improve,&#8221; Gavin said. &#8220;The passing is a big, big thing. We have girls in the back row that have never played in those positions before. So they will continue to work hard, and we&#8217;ve seen some improvement since the first day of practice. And I think our bench is starting to get stronger.&#8220;My team has to stay on task. We need to be a little bit more mature mentally, and we are still looking for that leader on the court.&#8221;The Trojans got off to a good start to begin the second as kills from Hornlein and Radginski gave Nanticoke a 13-11 lead. But behind six kills from Williams, DelVal went on a 10-3 run for a 21-16 lead.Nanticoke hung around in the third as well, knotted at 22-22 late. But a spike from 6-foot middle Centa Quinn and two Trojan miscues gave the Warriors the final three points and the 25-22 victory.Berwick 3, Crestwood 1The Bulldogs earned a 25-10, 25-19, 14-25, 25-22 victory over the Comets. Katie Evans had five aces, 13 service points and five digs in the win. Maddie Pinterich added four aces, eight service points and 14 digs while Liz Plyler had nine service points and six kills.Leading Crestwood were Kristen Kania (26 assists, six service points, 10 digs, five kills), Natasha Geisler (eight service points, 10 kills), Jordan Rinehimer (11 service points) and Jena Newienski (10 service points).Holy Redeemer 3, GAR 0The Royals rolled to a 25-5, 25-3, 25-7 sweep behind Liv Moore (five kills), Maddie Lewis (12 service points, six aces, three assists), Madisyn Irace (two kills) and Dayna Belsky (five service points, one ace, one assist).North Pocono 3, Hanover Area 1 After winning a close first set, the Trojans pulled out a 25-13, 25-18, 17-25, 25-11 win. Kelsey Kline had a match-high six kills for North Pocono, which also got contributions from Mikayla Haikes (21 service points, four aces, seven assists) and Maddie Hughes (15 service points, four aces, 10 digs).The Hawkeyes were led by Chakoya Allen (17 service points, five aces, three kills, one dig), Alesha Dennis (four service points, two Aces, seven Kills, four digs, one assist, three blocks) and Sabrina Frame (nine service points, one Ace, three Kills, one dig, one block).<ins>Delaware Valley 3, Nanticoke 0 </ins><ins>DV `25`25`25 &#8211; 3 </ins><ins>NAN`11`21`22 &#8211; 0 </ins><ins>DelVal leaders: Brooke Williams 13 kills; Kristin Volvaka 14 service points, 29 assists; Centa Quinn 3 aces, 6 kills. </ins><ins>Nanticoke leaders: Kasey Radginski 8 kills; Carly Reakes 2 aces, 12 assists; Jilann Baron 4 kills; Codi Hornlein 4 kills, 5 digs. </ins><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_web1_Volleyball2-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_web1_Volleyball2-2.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

Nanticoke girls volleyball hopes to learn from loss to Delaware Valley