'Senior leadership' key as Pace Academy gets title defense underway

Pace Academy's #10 Lawson Monroe leaps up for the shot against Druid Hills

While many high school volleyball teams throughout Georgia have a good amount of games under their belts, the eight time defending champions, Pace Academy Knights, after opening their season with a 3-0 win over Johns Creek nearly two weeks ago, returned to action on Tuesday as they hosted the North Atlanta Warriors and Druid Hills Red Devils.

Opening up the day facing a Warriors team who had only dropped two sets through their four wins to start the season, the Knights did not appear to be affected by the days off since their last match as they would take the first set by a final of 25-13, followed by a more dominant 25-6 win in set two, taking the match 2-0.

And while North Atlanta would bounce back in the next match defeating Druid Hills 2-0, the Knights would be tasked with keeping the Red Devils from getting back in the win column, as they entered the day on a nine game win streak with just one set loss through that stretch.

As expected, Druid Hills battled closely with the Knights and set one would see neither team take more than a two point lead until late in the set when the Knights would take a 20-16 lead following a Melinda Liu kill in route to taking the set 25-19.

In set two, Pace Academy would set an early tone by taking a 5-0 lead, however the Red Devils would get within three points when they trailed 5-2, but the Knights would quickly gather themselves and respond with 20-7 run in route to the 25-9 win of the set, taking the match 2-0.

"We have a pretty strong senior class and they've played together for a very long time," Pace Academy head coach, Catherine Monroe, said of her players and their performance through their first three games. "They just kind of battle it out.

They find ways to win," Monroe added, noting the way the Knights a good at supporting one another and "figure it out" when they are challenged, and in the case of their match with Druid Hills, some of her younger players had the opportunity to show their resilience against a tough Red Devils team.

"It was great to see some of the underclassmen respond to a varsity setting. Druid Hills is good and so we never want to underestimate what they can bring and for us just getting some younger kids in the game was a great accomplishment for us," Monroe said. The Knights will return to the court on Thursday when they face East Forsyth.