Cape volleyball wins battle with the Royals
The Delmarva Christian and Cape Henlopen boys’ volleyball teams met for the opening match of the 2025 season March 26 in Georgetown, and when the final serve was taken, the Vikings dug up a 25-16, 25-23, 25-20 victory.
A match that was to be a Vikings’ victory on paper proved to be a lot closer than expected, as the Royals played tough and put up quite the battle.
Cape senior Bryce Patterson led both squads with 12 kills, two aces and seven digs. Junior Lawson Whaley tallied nine kills, three digs and two blocks. Junior Jason Harpel-Rickards set up 25 winning points, made five digs and served two aces. Senior Kieran Morrissey and sophomore Jacob Panyko each had seven digs. Juniors Braxton Figgs and Ryder Van Horn teamed for nine kills, five blocks and five digs.
“For the start of the season, we’re happy with with the amount of errors we made; we could still dig ourselves out of holes to get the win,” said Morrissey. “There are still a lot of kinks we have to work out, lots of things we have to polish up. First ball, first serve and first pass, that’s what we have to clean up. Overall, we feel good about the match. Credit to Delmarva Christian, they played hard. Coach [Jim] Berger coming back has done a great job with them.”
Seth Mifflin led the Royals with eight kills, three blocks and three digs. Harrison Schlabach recorded five kills, five digs and three blocks. Senior setter Ethan Fels put up 16 assists while blocking two shots and slamming a ace. Sophomore Calab Holloway garnered five digs.
“I’m really proud of my team,” said Berger. “It was a tough matchup right out of the gate, but we’ve made huge strives in the last three weeks. Very proud how we kept our unforced errors down and played competitively. We had some great blocking at the net, and I was impressed at how far our serve-receive has come in a short amount of time. It was nice to be in a competitive match. I liked what I saw. I’m very pleased.”
Cape coach Tyler Coupe was also happy with his team’s performance, particularly its ability to fight through rusty errors.
“I think we made some poor first contacts behind the service line and in the back court, but we didn’t let them deter us,” he said. “Our offense had some big swings, and then some swings where you could see the players hesitate in mid-air about what they wanted to do. As coaches we try and reinforce to them to trust the process of what they’ve done in the gym, and to understand their range of green light to go for it.”
Coupe said he thought Jason Harpel-Rickards did a great job balancing the offense in his debut as setter.
“ I think some inconsistencies of location will continue to wear off, but I think the choices of who he intended to set were really good,” Coupe said. “Delmarva Christian has some size at the net, and they certainly made our players hit shots/zones, and that’s a good test for us in the first match.”
The Vikings travel to Kennett Square, Pa., to compete in the Kennett Classic Saturday, March 29, while the Royals travel to Caesar Rodney Tuesday, April 1, to face the Riders.
Dan has worked for the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years as a photographer and reporter, covering high school sports and happenings around eastern Sussex County. He won a photography award from the National Newspaper Association, and numerous awards from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association. A Delaware native, Dan graduated from Cape in 1972 and returned as a teacher and coach in the 1980s. He retired from the classroom in 2016. He was inducted into Cape High’s Legends Stadium in 2016. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, grandchildren and dogs.
