For a few moments in the opening set between Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua, the Blue Raiders were brewing up a storm.

Tamaqua’s energy level felt octaves above the Olympians.

The Raiders’ ship was steering toward open waters. Erika Gerhard looked zoned in, so did Eileen Lusch, Ashlyn Houser and Jillian Tite.

But Thorpe never wavered, rebounding to rally from being down five points and snapping out of a funk to eventually find its footing en route to a 25-18, 25-8, 25-12 sweep in Tuesday’s Schuylkill League opener.

The Olympians hammered away for 20 aces, and got a stirring performance from senior outside hitter Ally Ramey, daughter of head coach Will Ramey, along with superb play by Carsen Rosenberger, Riley Pastor and Kristen Pompa.

“We didn’t make any special adjustments,” Will Ramey said when asked about the turnaround after watching his kids rally from being down 15-10 in the opening game. “Really, these kids know each other. They make the adjustments themselves; there is very little I have to say. I like the way they communicate.

“We were sluggish at the start, (probably because) we were coming off a big weekend tournament.”

The Olympians quickly rebounded from their shaky start, reeling off nine straight points to zoom in front 19-15. Haylei James whipped up two aces in the rally, and Pompa and Pastor both registered kills.

“I thought we did pretty good at the beginning,” said Tamaqua head coach Jen Kromer. “I mean, we had some nice digs; we held our own.”

Thorpe rode the momentum from its opening game comeback into the second game as it sauntered in front 11-2, and never looked back.

There were four aces stacked up in the rally - two off the serves of James, and one each from Pompa and Ivy Stauffer.

It was nearly an instant replay for Thorpe to open the third and final game, as the Olympians roared out of the chute, jumping in front 12-3 before Tamaqua regained some of its footing and closed the gap to 15-11.

Jocelyn Clause had an ace during the Raiders’ rally, while Maddison Baddick slammed home an impressive kill.

But Tamaqua’s hopes for a comeback win were short-lived, as the Olympians reeled off an 8-1 run that iced the victory.

BY THE NUMBERS

… Pompa had five kills and four aces for Jim Thorpe. Pastor had three aces and a pair of kills; Ramey had five kills; and Rosenberger had three digs and three aces.

OUTSIDE BOMBER

… The go to gal for Thorpe was Ramey, as the outside hitter was by far the best player on the floor.

BROOM WAS OUT

… The Olympians swept the junior varsity contest in two straight games.