Samantha Nied, Whitmore Lake volleyball serve past Sand Creek
Whitmore Lake High School's Alyssa Clair (1) and Jessica Spiegelberg (11) rise to block a Sand Creek shot during the Trojan's doubleheader sweep of the Aggies on Thursday in Whitmore Lake.
The senior libero has a nasty top-spin serve that proved to be nearly untouchable for Sand Creek during the Trojans' doubleheader sweep of the Aggies in Tri-County Conference action Thursday in Whitmore Lake.
"I was just kind of in my own bubble in a way and was just thinking about acing it at them the whole time," said Neid, who had 11 aces, including five in the final game. "I didn't let everything around me distract me. I was in the zone real, real bad."
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Nied's serving helped pace the Trojans in 3-0 match wins of 25-21, 25-19, 25-20 and 25-17, 25-14, 25-17.
"She (Nied) did the top-spin serve real well," said Whitmore Lake coach Kathy Coleman. "She did the same thing for us last year. It's almost part of the offense."
Nied put an exclamation point on her night in game three of the second match when she delivered five aces in a row to give Whitmore Lake (3-0) a 17-10 cushion.
Whitmore Lake's Alyssa Clair sets the ball to a teammate during the Trojan's home sweep of Sand Creek on Thursday.
The senior, in fact, chalked up five of her blocks in the final game.
"I'm trying to kill the ball in somebody's face," smiled Spiegelberg. "And our defense is key. Working as a team and putting it all together was very key."
"(Spiegelberg) took a lot of (Sand Creek's) offense out of the game," said Coleman. "She's so tall and has good penetration on the block."
Spiegelberg helped cap the Trojans sweep with a block followed by a hammer-down kill to put Whitmore Lake up 21-15.
"It's a big win; they're our first league matches," noted Coleman. "It sets the attitude, it sets the tone, it sets our momentum. It's, 'OK, we're 2-0 in our league, let's move forward. Let's build off of this'."
Kaleb Roedel is a sports writer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734)623-2562 and e-mailed at kalebroedel@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kaleb_R.