By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

For the first two sets of Tuesday night’s non-conference match between visiting Constantine and Brandywine the formula was simple.

The Lady Bobcats would get off to a quick start, build up a pretty good lead only to have the Lady Falcons come roaring back.

But in the third set, Brandywine never took it foot off the gas and roared to a three-set sweep.

The Lady Bobcats defeated the Lady Falcons 25-17, 25-18 and 25-8.

The difference according to first-year coach Nikki Cooper was a switch in the line-up.

“I switch the line-up to something we are much more comfortable with,” she said. “Something we been playing with at the last tournament and we have played with before.”

In the first game, after getting off to the good start, Constantine came back and took the lead before freshman Jessy Cooper served the Lady Bobcats back into the lead and junior Lauren Leonard delivered the final blow with a powerful kill.

In the second set, Cooper served up seven straight winners as Brandywine opened up a 10-3 advantage.

Once again, the Lady Falcons came storming back.

Constantine got the lead down to 15-12, but the hitting from junior Kelsey Prestly and the serving of Cooper were too much for it to overcome.

Brandywine was in total command of the third and final set.
Freshman Mackenzie Shelton gave the Lady Bobcats a 6-1 lead with five straight service points.

Junior Sam Low extended the lead to 16-3 with seven consecutive good serves and then Prestly pulled Brandywine to within a point of winning and Leonard finished off the match with an ace.

“We focus a lot on serving,” Cooper said. “We want to be able to move the ball short, the deep and wherever we want to use it as another weapon on offense.”

Cooper had 12 aces on the night, while Low added six.

Prestly led the team in offense with 12 kills. Seniors Kaley Jones had 12 assists and Monica Williams 11 assists.

Brandywine also won the junior varsity match as it defeated Constantine 25-14 and 26-24.