Girls Volleyball: Bloodied Knight remains unbowed
By Tony Baranek tbaranek@southtownstar.com September 24, 2012 5:46PM
Updated: October 26, 2012 6:11AM
Friday night’s pool play match at the Rich East Invitational between Sandburg and Lincoln-Way East saw one scary moment and quite a display of grittiness by Sandburg sophomore setter Sami Knight.
During a long and intense volley in Set 2, Knight went face-first to the floor to make a dig. She was successful, but got a lot more of the floor than she bargained for.
“I just nailed it,” Knight said on Saturday, her nose still a light shade of purple. “I didn’t realize the floor was that hard.”
That didn’t stop her, according to coach David Vales, from popping back up during the rally and actually making another pass.
“They finally paused the game when an official noticed that her nose was purple, and she was crying. She had a big circle on her forehead,” Vales said.
A quick test from the trainer revealed that Knight had not suffered a concussion. But she did have a problem of a slight nosebleed that didn’t want to stop.
After three rotations, Knight returned to the floor. During one stretch, she served for nine consecutive points, with four of her side-spin serves dropping for aces.
Midway through the serving streak, Lincoln-Way East coach Linda Vivona did Knight as much of a favor as she did her own team by calling a timeout. During the break, Knight was able to dab away the blood rather than swallow it.
“I hated the taste of the blood, but I had to (swallow it) in order to keep playing,” Knight said. “I really wanted to win that game.”
Sandburg won the match 25-19, 25-16.
Great late
The “Battle of Oak Lawn” was just that for two sets on Thursday, with host Richards winning the first 25-21 and Oak Lawn responding in the second in thrilling 26-24 fashion. Set 3, however, was a 25-8 Oak Lawn runaway.
“In the third game we settled in and our passing improved,” Spartans coach Dennis McNamara said. “We began creating scoring opportunities with our defense.”
At 6-1, Oak Lawn is chasing Shepard (7-0) in the South Suburban Red race. The two teams are scheduled for a head-on collision at Shepard on Oct. 11.
