Unbeaten Vikings sweep Van Buren in BVC opener

VAN BUREN – Say her name and she appears. Leipsic believes in Danaysia Danzy. Danzy set the tone early for Leipsic with seven kills in the first set. She finished with 15 kills, leading the undefeated Vikings to a convincing 25-16, 25-11, 25-13 Blanchard Valley Conference win Wednesday over Van Buren. "In the first set, I thought we did a good job of communicating," Danzy said. "There was energy and everybody was ready to play. Everybody was having fun. It got a little rough at times, but we pulled it back in and we played our game. I thought we did a great job of that." Leipsic (7-0 overall, 1-0 BVC) was good from the get-go. The Vikings opened an 8-3 lead after a kill by Jaclyn Cupp. Danzy had two kills early and then later, her kill kept Leipsic up 15-11. The Black Knights (5-2, 0-1) kept things close as three straight points – including two kills by Brooklyn Wilkin – brought Van Buren within 15-13. But that was the closest the Black Knights got. The Vikings answered with the next four points and a kill by Danzy put Leipsic up 20-14. Consecutive kills by Jazelle Perez and a blast from Morgan Apple gave the Vikings the opening set. "I think we were sparked off of last night's match," Leipsic coach Brent Newell said. "We played very well in the second and third set at Patrick Henry and that rolled over into today. With a great offense that we have, we're able to do that with the great passers we have. We've been working hard on getting our serves dialed in. We've been struggling early on with our serves. Tonight, we did a great job of aggressive ball control. That's what we're trying to do." Those kills late by Perez and Apple were a sign of things to come. With Van Buren giving even more attention to Danzy, the two seniors took over. The Black Knights played significantly better early in Set 2 and even led 5-2 and 7-4. But, Leipsic got rolling behind Perez and Apple and went up 10-8 on a kill by Perez. After a kill by Van Buren, Leipsic got hot and barely relented. The Vikings ripped off 14 straight points to take a one-point lead to a slew of match points at 24-10. Apple had five kills and a block in the run while Perez bludgeoned four kills along the way. "That's a sign of aggressive ball control," Newell said of the 14-0 run. "Last night we strung together 17 in a row and tonight was similar to that. We have good servers. Sometimes we run into some errors, but we're a still a work in progress. We did a great job tonight serving the ball." The Black Knights faded two set points, but Apple put down the last of her eight kills in the set to give Leipsic a stranglehold on the match. "We're struggling with our serve receive," Van Buren coach Mark Bunn said. "When we do get a pass, we're struggling to set. We have hitters, we have great setters, and we have great passers, but we're just not putting everything together. When we did have a good attack, their defense was phenomenal." The third set felt like more of a formality and Leipsic never relented. Danzy got on fire again, tallying seven more kills in the set. It was just a 6-5 lead early, but the Vikings won points in bunches to slowly pull away. Alyssa Campbell served up an ace and Apple lined a kill to make it 15-9. Later, three big kills by Danzy made it 19-11. The junior smacked two more kills before an error by Van Buren gave Leipsic the comfortable victory. "We knew they had a really good middle hitter with Brooklyn Wilkin," Newell said. "She's a phenomenal sophomore. We knew we had to try to block her as much as we can. They were going to get her the ball every chance they can. Selma Brant we knew was another great hitter for them too. We tried to key in on them two players and contain them." Wilkin led the Black Knights with 11 kills while Brant had eight kills and six digs. Paige Ryan tallied 11 assists, Lydia Ponn contributed eight assists, and Bailey Lance nabbed six digs. "It was frustrating and I told the girls I kind of let them down because I got frustrated," Bunn said. "I can't. I have to keep coaching them. I have great leadership and a great bond of girls. I think we'll be alright. This is just a beating we didn't want, but we can bounce back from it." Danzy also had 14 digs defensively. When Van Buren focused more on her in the second set, she kept points alive with one-armed digs on rockets from the Black Knights or diving saves near the sideline that eventually led to points for Leipsic. "She's a phenomenal player," Newell said. "We know what she brings to the table. It's great that we can get her the ball and it's great that we have two or three other players on our team that had double-digit kills in the same night. That's a fantastic team right there. We have our leader and she's going to get hers." Apple tallied 12 kills, Perez added 11, and Karmyn Brough ran the offense to the tune of 39 assists. Jaelynn Siefer added 11 digs while Cupp registered four kills and two blocks.