CHAPEL HILL — By the seventh serve of the first set, it was apparent that the volleyball team from Woods Charter School was deeper, faster and more talented than its opposition from Triangle Math and Science Academy.
It was that moment when Lexi Smollen began to take aim at the visiting Tigers with her service. The sophomore outside hitter for the Wolves served ball after ball that was unreturnable, rattling off 12 straight aces to give her team a commanding lead. The Wolves of Woods Charter won that set handily, and captured the next two with ease as well, taking a convincing and dominant 3-0 win over Triangle Math and Science last Thursday.
“Everybody played well,” said Wolves Head Coach Scott Green. “Very pleased with our effort. We have some tough matches coming up next week, so I wanted to make sure we were clicking on all of our plays and everything.”
After Smollen’s run of aces gave the Wolves (11-1) a 15-3 lead, they outscored the Tigers 10-3 the rest of the way. Smollen only played in the first set, but her presence was felt. In addition to her superb service, she also tallied two kills and two assists.
Smollen has quickly become one of the best volleyball players in the Central Tar Heel 1A league this season, totaling more than 230 kills and more than 50 aces on the year. She ranks among conference leaders in both stats.
“(Smollen) has really performed very well, especially against our conference opponents,” Green said. “She’s come in much improved from last year. She’s more confident. She doesn’t get shaken up if she makes a mistake; she just turns right around and comes at you again.”
Knowing that the Tigers (2-9) couldn’t match the skill of his starting unit, Green dug into his bench in the second and third sets, giving playing time to key reserves and experimenting with players in different positions.
Senior Jana Thompson is typically the libero for the Wolves, but played outside hitter against the Tigers. She excelled, too, racking up seven kills in addition to a trio of digs. Five of Thompson’s kills came in the second set, helping the Wolves win, 25-11.
Each of Thompson’s kills were assisted by senior setter Celine Keles as they formed a formidable duo at the net. In all, Keles notched 11 assists and two digs.
“I wanted to give Jana that opportunity, but Celine did a good job setting too,” Green said. “Those two seniors, I just enjoy giving them the opportunity to go out and perform.”
And even without Smollen on the court, Woods Charter continued to get solid service from sophomore Chloe Haswell and senior Ada Green. Haswell — filling in for Thompson at libero — notched six aces across the match, while Green had three in the final set, helping the Wolves take a decisive 25-6 victory. Green also chipped in three kills, a block and an assist.
Sophomore Emma Cope also appeared across the stat sheet, tallying three kills, two digs and two aces. Senior Emma Hobbs had two blocks, two assists and a kill.
Woods Charter is now 7-0 and in first place in the Central Tar Heel 1A league. On Thursday, they travel to Chatham Charter (10-4), where Green expects they’ll face tougher competition.
“We need to make sure we get our serves in. And we always spend time working on serve-receive,” Green said. “Because, top to bottom in our conference, there’s good servers on every team. So, any team you play in our conference, you’re going to get to face some good servers. That’s one thing we’ve concentrated on this year and I think it’s helped us a lot.”