The Bradford High gymnasium is a familiar place for Lady Owls volleyball coach Steve Daniels. He spent six years as an assistant under former head man Mike Leet during a span when Bradford won three consecutive District 9 titles.
So you had to figure Thursday night was a special one for Daniels as he earned his first home victory as Bradford’s head coach as the Owls dominated Sheffield to the tune of a 25-6, 25-8, 25-9 win.
“It’s nice being home; that’s the biggest thing,” Daniels said. “The girls were ready for tonight. They’ve been ready for a long time for tonight.”
The match was never really in any doubt, as Bradford came out to a 10-0 start in the first set and never looked back. The Owls were dominant in all aspects of the game: serving, digging, returning, passing. And they were doing it with the kind of pace and tempo that Daniels wants to see from his team.
“We’re playing fast and from my experience, that’s what Bradford volleyball is, and that’s what we’re going to continue to be,” he said. “We’ve got a nice core. As much as humanly possible, we’ve got a nice core.”
That core was reflected in the balanced numbers up and down the lineup: Alexis Huber led Bradford with nine kills, but Laney Kahle (three), Ashton Himes (two), and Morgan Tyger (three) also pitched in on the offensive front, while Brittany Rounsville and Erica Marshall both contributed three digs. Kahle added 14 assists in the match.
“My seniors — Alexis, Ashton, Morgan, Brittany — they’ve done really well coaching up my juniors, making sure they understand what varsity’s all about,” Daniels said. “I’ve also got two sophomores; one was on the bench tonight, one was in the middle the entire time, and they’ve really stepped up. They said, ‘What can I do for the program?’ I said this is what you can do, and they’ve done it.”
The second set started a bit closer, with Sheffield keeping it to 4-2 in the early going. But Bradford’s talent insured that it wasn’t going to stay close for very long.
One of the keys to the match was Bradford’s ability to win points quickly and avoid long rallies. Rarely were the Owls forced to expend a lot of effort to keep points alive.
Bradford’s record now stands at 2-0 after winning a four-set match against Elk County Catholic on Tuesday, but Daniels knows things will only get tougher from here.
“The key to success is focus,” he said. “It’s easy to come out and win (like this), but when the chips are down… ECC drove us to a (set) loss the other night and we had to focus back up and we brought it back.”
Bradford’s next match will be at home against Otto-Eldred on Monday.
