Lady Hawks let fly

Red Hook Lady Raiders couldn’t find their footing at their home opener Sept. 10 against Rhinebeck’s Lady Hawks, falling in four sets in front of a full house at Red Hook’s Jack Lewis Gymnasium.

Red Hook played come-from-behind ball throughout the first game, ceding an early lead to Rhinebeck, but tying the game at point 9 and then 19, and eventually closing Rhinebeck’s lead to 23-21, but lost the set on a block at the net after a long volley.

In the second game, either Red Hook snapped into it or the Lady Hawks snapped out of it. Red went up 7-0 to open and lost major ground to a Rhinebeck rally that cut their lead to 10-9 before opening the game back up, capitalizing on a faulty Purple return game, and finishing 25-19.

“I thought we played well through the first two games,” Red Hook head coach told The Observer.

But then there were two more.

The third game featured a spiking attack, led by Rhinebeck’s hitter Sam Sherwood. The Lady Hawks buried the Lady Raiders early with well-placed shots, with signs of life coming from Red only after they closed the score to 19-8. Rhinebeck finished the game 25-9.

In the final game, Red kept things tight, relying on a slightly off Rhinebeck spiking attack to take an early, 7-3, lead, before giving up a 15-15 tie and dueling for the lead toward the end of the match. Rhinebeck gained the upper hand in the final points — although Red Hook brought it to 24-22 — to claim a 25-22 victory.

“I thought we played phenomenally,” Rhinebeck head coach Allie Ferretti told The Observer after the game. “I’m just so excited about the win.”

With the win, Rhinebeck improves to 2-0 on the season; Red Hook drops to 0-1.

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