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Daleville’s Zannah Weber serves the ball in a match against Cowan for the Cowan Sectional championship on Oct. 24.
DALEVILLE — It didn’t take long for Daleville volleyball coach Beth Etchison to come up with a way to describe sophomore setter Zannah Weber.
“She’s a silent assassin,” Etchison said.
If Weber is an assassin, her best weapon is her serve. It kept Southern Wells and Cowan at bay on Saturday when Daleville won the Cowan Sectional. Weber finished with 13 aces that day, increasing her total this season to 73, a team-high.
And the Broncos could need another impressive performance from her Tuesday, when they host their regional match against the Seton Catholic Cardinals at 7 p.m.
Weber began developing her serve when she was in middle school, eventually unleashing it for the first time in a match during the sixth grade. She said the serve clearly landed out-of-bounds, but her team won the point and the match.
It’s a jump serve that barely rotates, moving like a knuckleball erratically through the air and making it difficult for defenders to track.
“It floats and moves back and forth, it confuses people,” Weber said.
Once she realized the skill she possessed, she began entering practice an hour early, or staying an hour late, just to hone the serve. The result is she’s Daleville’s first server and tallied two aces in the first four points against Cowan.
“It’ll line drive to your face and absolutely drop,” Etchison said. “People have a hard time judging it, they can’t see where it’s going, and it’s something she’s been doing for two years.”
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Daleville’s Zannah Weber prepares to set the ball in a match against Cowan in the Cowan Sectional championship on Oct. 24.
Weber comes from a family with volleyball blood, as her sister was a second-team All-State setter for the Broncos three years ago. Etchison described Weber as quiet and not vocal but is the quarterback of Daleville’s volleyball team and earned her team’s trust.
She took over setting duties midway through last season and plays taller than her 5-foot-3 statue appears, tied for shortest on the team. Against Cowan, she won a joust at the net against one of the Blackhawks’ middle hitters.
“I try to do my best to stay positive and if someone is down, pick them up,” Weber said. “I have to keep my head level if everyone else’s isn’t.”
That’s astute maturity, especially coming from a sophomore leading a team into its first regional match since the turn of the millennium.
“She grew up with a volleyball in her hands,” Etchison said. “She has good floor knowledge and the girls know that. They trust her.”
Tigers travel north
Class 3A No. 1 Yorktown (35-1) travels to Bellmont (21-14) for its regional match. The Tigers have already played the Braves once this season, winning 2-0 in an early-season invitational.
“It’s hard to take much out of it, because it’s so early in the season,” Yorktown coach Stephanie Bloom said. “It’s important to remember that the second time you play someone, it’s a completely different game.”
Yorktown won a five-set battle against Delta before defeating Guerin Catholic to clinch the Delta Sectional.
Raiders seek win
A completely different game is what Class 2A No. 4 Wapahani (23-11) will be looking for when it travels to No. 7 Madison-Grant for its regional.
Wapahani fell to Madison-Grant earlier this season 3-1 and will be looking to reverse its fate. The Raiders and Argylls are two of the more battle-tested teams in the 2A postseason thus far.
Wapahani topped No. 1 Wes-Del in its first sectional match, while Madison-Grant defeated No. 5 Alexandria in the sectional championship.
Contact prep sports reporter David Polaski at (765) 213-5848. Follow him on Twitter @DavidPolaskiTSP.
VOLLEYBALL REGIONALS
TUESDAY
3A: No. 1. Yorktown (35-1) at Bellmont (21-14), 7 p.m.
2A: No. 4. Wapahani (23-11) at No. 7 Madison-Grant (26-8), 7 p.m.
1A: Seton Catholic (28-8) at No. 9 Daleville (20-10), 7 p.m.