Girls just want to have fun: Raiders start season with two-set victory over Mustangs

QUINCY — Faith Kientzle’s smile never fades.

Why should it? Volleyball season is officially here.

“It’s supposed to be fun,” said the Quincy Notre Dame senior libero, who has already verbally committed to Lincoln Land Community College. “And that’s what Coach told us. Just go out there and have fun and the other stuff will come.”

And it did. A scintillating start on Kientzle’s serve, a scrappy finish to the first set and a dominant run in the second set propelled the Raiders to a 25-23, 25-10 victory over Unity on Wednesday night at The Pit.

“It’s the season opener so we were all nervous and excited and so hyped to be out there,” Kientzle said. “I think we got a little ahead of ourselves. We adjusted to that.”

Kientzle served three consecutive aces her first time on the line and helped QND snare a 6-2 lead out of the gate. Unity steadily chipped away and scored four consecutive points on Caroline Knox’s serve to pull even at 15.

“They’re scrappy,” Kientzle said. “We have to know the play’s never over and the ball is always going to come back over. We have to be scrappy ourselves.”

It was a 21-20 edge for QND when the teams traded the final seven points. Abbey Schreacke’s kill off the block of Unity’s Ashlynn Arnsman ended the first set.

“I love when the team gets a challenge,” QND coach Courtney Kvitle said. “It feels good. I think you can see some of your weaknesses come out a little bit and I like to see that and know what we need to work on in practice. The team comes back and bounces back in the second set with really good serving and we were able to take advantage at the front row.”

QND dominated the second set from start to finish. Schreacke finished with seven kills and two digs, Kientzle had four aces and sophomore setter Annie Eaton had 14 assists. Kylee Barry led Unity with five kills.