Led by serving and good defense, the Mt. Hope girls’ volleyball team beat Portsmouth Tuesday night, 25-10, 25-19, 25-12 in a Division II match.

A team total of 14 aces and Brook McGreevy’s six kills led the Huskies to an easy win while the Patriots struggled as star player Isabelle Wilson missed the match due to a hand injury.

“I think our girls played very well. We worked on our defense and serving all week,” Mt. Hope head coach Katharine Boynton said. “They really stepped it up and I was proud.”

To open the first game, Mt. Hope got off to a fast start thanks to two kills from McGreevy while the Patriots played sloppy, giving the Huskies to take a 6-3 lead. The Patriots then came storming back with five straight points to take the lead, but they then struggled with mishits and service errors. The game was eventually finished off by junior Sara Godfrey with a kill as the home crowd erupted to their team’s convincing 25-10 win.

Mt. Hope carried the momentum into the second game while being aided in part by communication and service errors from the Patriots. The Huskies continued to outplay Portsmouth, jumping out to a 9-3 lead. Portsmouth fought back again, refusing to let Mt. Hope escape easily. The Patriots got themselves back into the second game, but their inexperience eventually showed as several errors allowed Mt. Hope to escaped with a 25-19 second game win, putting them up 2-0 overall.

To start the third game, Portsmouth earned its first lead since the first game off of three straight points before three unreturned serves were hit by Alyssa McGreevy to give the Huskies a 6-3 lead. Three nice plays in a row from Azaria McDaniel gave the Huskies a 14-5 lead, forcing the Patriots to call a timeout. After the break in action, Portsmouth continued to struggle with mishits and service errors, and the Huskies capitalized, running away with the third game.

Mt. Hope remained unbeaten on the young season at 2-0. The Huskies are back in action Thursday night, Sept. 15, in Warwick at Pilgrim.

“We are pretty confident,” Coach Boynton said. “There are some things I want to adjust going forward so we can fix some little thing. Hopefully we can continue to play our game.” 

Meanwhile the Patriots continue to struggle early on in D-II play as they fall to 0-2 on the year. Portsmouth faces Pilgrim in Warwick in its next outing Tuesday, Sept. 20. The Patriots and Huskies meet in a rematch on October 5 at Portsmouth High School.

“We are just transitioning and figuring out places right now,” Portsmouth head coach Lisa Zabel said. “We still need to figure what lineup works best.”