Vickery’s 14 Kills Lift Litchfield Past Jersey in Three-Set Non-Conference Win

LITCHFIELD, Ill. — Senior Amari Vickery hammered a match-high 14 kills and Leighton Warchol distributed 32 assists as Litchfield outlasted visiting Jersey 2-1 in a non-conference match Oct. 1 that went the full three sets.

The Purple Panthers (6-14) built their attack around Vickery from the opening serve, feeding the senior outside hitter at a 4.7-kills-per-set clip. When Jersey adjusted, Warchol found other options: Lexi Logan and Jada Carroll each added seven kills, giving Litchfield 35 as a team and enough balance to keep the Jersey block guessing.

Jersey (4-19) was far from overmatched. The Panthers matched Litchfield nearly swing for swing with 34 kills of their own, led by senior Maleah Derrick’s nine and senior Madalyn Aday’s eight. Aday was the most efficient attacker on the floor, hitting .240 on 25 swings while also leading all players with five total blocks, four of them solo. Senior Bailee Hanlon chipped in six kills, and setter Taryn Little ran the offense to 25 assists on 113 ball-handling attempts with just one error.

Where the match turned was in the serve-receive game. Jersey piled up 29 reception errors as a team, repeatedly handing Litchfield free points and forcing Little to set from off-system positions. Litchfield, by contrast, passed cleanly behind Kyndal Law, who handled 15 receptions with two errors, and Samantha Rieke, who added six clean passes.

The Panthers’ back row still did heavy work. Senior libero Alaina Laird dug 25 balls, Little added 22 and Derrick 17 as Jersey out-dug Litchfield 85-49 across the three sets. Sophomore Holly Lamer contributed 11 digs.

Jersey also won the service battle, landing seven aces to Litchfield’s four. Sophomore Jena Pegram was perfect on 12 serves with two aces, and both Derrick and Laird served 100 percent — Laird on a match-high 16 attempts. Gracie Flowers added two aces.

For Litchfield, Vickery was the complete package: two aces, five digs and 13 serve-receive attempts to go with the 14 kills. Law dug 14 balls and Rieke 12 from the back row, while Logan posted a 10-dig, seven-kill double-duty night. Carroll’s two solo blocks and Kyleigh Zhang’s two block assists gave the home side just enough resistance at the net.

Litchfield’s win snapped the visitors’ momentum and moved the home side to 6-14. Jersey fell to 4-19.

Game Summary

Match Result

Individual set scores were not available in the provided data.

Individual Statistics

JERSEY

KILLS: Maleah Derrick 9 (.050, 40 att); Madalyn Aday 8 (.240, 25 att); Bailee Hanlon 6 (.136, 22 att); Gracie Flowers 4 (-.133, 30 att); Nola Griffith 4 (.000, 12 att); Taryn Little 3 (.188, 16 att). Team: 34 kills, 145 attacks, 24 errors, .069

ASSISTS: Taryn Little 25 (8.3/set, 113 BHA, 1 BHE); Alaina Laird 3

ACES: Jena Pegram 2 (12 serves, 100.0%); Gracie Flowers 2 (9 serves); Maleah Derrick 1 (11 serves, 100.0%); Alaina Laird 1 (16 serves, 100.0%); Melody Inniger 1. Team: 7

DIGS: Alaina Laird 25 (8.3/set); Taryn Little 22 (7.3/set); Maleah Derrick 17 (5.7/set); Holly Lamer 11; Jada Baro 3; Gracie Flowers 3; Bailee Hanlon 3; Jena Pegram 1. Team: 85

BLOCKS: Madalyn Aday 5 (4 solo, 1 assist); Taryn Little 2 (1 solo, 1 assist)

SERVE RECEIVE: Alaina Laird 16 (18 RE); Maleah Derrick 9 (3 RE); Holly Lamer 8 (4 RE); Jada Baro 3 (4 RE)

LITCHFIELD

KILLS: Amari Vickery 14 (4.7/set, 7 E); Jada Carroll 7 (5 E); Lexi Logan 7 (4 E); Leighton Warchol 2; Kyleigh Zhang 2; Jennah Longwell 2; Kyndal Law 1. Team: 35

ASSISTS: Leighton Warchol 32 (10.7/set); Kyndal Law 2

ACES: Amari Vickery 2; Jada Carroll 1; Leighton Warchol 1. Team: 4

DIGS: Kyndal Law 14 (4.7/set); Samantha Rieke 12 (4.0/set); Lexi Logan 10; Leighton Warchol 7; Amari Vickery 5; Jada Carroll 1. Team: 49

BLOCKS: Jada Carroll 2 (2 solo); Kyleigh Zhang 2 (2 assists)

SERVE RECEIVE: Kyndal Law 15 (2 RE); Amari Vickery 13 (3 RE); Samantha Rieke 6; Lexi Logan 6 (1 RE)