It’s a unique advantage when your most productive player is also your most energetic.
Covenant volleyball enjoys that unique advantage.
“Cara is our hype master, she’ll tell us all the time to get hyped, to not stop fighting,” said Covenant freshman Delaney Poindexter. “We need that on our young, young team, we need someone who’s going to tell us to get the energy up — energy wins games for us.”
Hamil, another freshman on the Eagles’ young squad, brought the energy Saturday in front of what’s believed to be the largest crowd in Covenant volleyball history. The Eagles delivered in front of their home contingent of students and families, beating New Covenant 3-0 to capture the Blue Ridge Conference tournament championship for the first time in program history.
Covenant won the first two sets 25-19 and 25-22, fell 25-17 in game three and recovered to win game four 25-20 and close out the victory.
Hamil led the Eagles with 18 kills and also notched 11 digs and three aces, making plays all over the floor and in key moments, celebrating and bringing the energy Covenant needed to build momentum.
“She brings a lot of energy and a lot of maturity to the court for a freshman,” said Covenant coach Bethany Davis. “We don’t have any seniors so we go through a little bit of an emotional roller coaster but they’re bringing it together and they’re playing great volleyball.”
Hamil had some help too. Poindexter had 15 digs and came up big in key situation after key situation to lead an Eagles’ defense that had four total players notch double digit kills on the day. Freshman setter London Constant finished with 29 assists and 12 digs and freshman Peyton Garber had 11 digs.
Poindexter had a key service run in game four that got started after New Covenant failed to return her serve and the freshman signaled a quick, confident number one to the sideline.
“All I thought about was my team, I wanted to serve the ball in for my team,” Poindexter said. “I just knew we were going to come out with a win.”
The freshman libero gives the Eagles a major edge in that spot, bringing a confidence beyond her years to the position.
“Delaney is an athlete through and through and one of the reasons she’s in the libero jersey is because she doesn’t stop,” Davis said. “She’ll run into the wall at full speed chasing a ball down for you. She knows how to compete from basically our back row captain.”
Poindexter’s service run extended the Eagles’ lead and nearly finished off New Covenant, but her sister, eighth grader Kerrigan Poindexter — who had four kills — provided the final blow, when the Gryphons couldn’t return her attack from the left side. Juniors Katie Lowe and Katelyn Duprey, the teams’ elder statesmen, had nine kills and three aces respectively.
The Eagles are ranked No. 3 in the VISAA’s most recent Division II poll and they’ll learn their seeding for the state tournament later this week, though it seems likely they’ll host in the first round at the very least.
