Fairfield sweeps Eastern in 3 straight sets

LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lady Lions walked onto the volleyball court for the second time of the 2023 season, and on Tuesday night they earned their first win of the year, defeating the Eastern Lady Warriors in three straight sets. 

The Southern Hills Athletic Conference win by the Lady Lions saw them win by scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-8, moving to 1-0 in the SHAC Division II standings and 1-1 overall. 

“The last set was the girls’ best set, but we have a lot of growth,” FHS head coach Jerrica Stackhouse said. “We have one returner, so we have to fill big shoes. 

“Our girls play really good defense, they move their feet well, they are very scrappy, and they try to get after everything.”

Fairfield and Eastern tied four times in the first set at scores of 3-3, 5-5, 15-15 and 20-20. 

The first set saw Kelsey Clark score a point on an ace, but Eastern’s Raylee Brummett later answered with an ace for the visitors, tying the score at three points each. 

Eastern built a two-point lead, but the Lady Lions eventually tied the score at 5-5 off Eastern hitting the ball out of play. Fairfield built an 8-5 lead off serves from Emily Taylor, including an ace for an 8-5 lead. 

As the first set continued, it was a point scored at the net off a play by McKinley Cox, and a serve by Mackenzie Anderson of Fairfield to put the Lady Lions ahead at 11-7. 

Eastern and Fairfield continued to battle in the opening set, with the score eventually tied at 15, though FHS held a 13-10 lead following a point scored by Jobey Hattan. 

Eastern regained the lead at 17-15, forcing Fairfield to call a timeout. Eastern kept the lead, but the Lady Lions stayed strong, erasing a 20-15 deficit with the help of serves from Remi Moon, along with a kill from Hattan and an ace by Moon, putting FHS ahead at 21-20, as Eastern called a timeout of their own. 

From there, Fairfield kept the first-set advantage including scoring more points off Moon serves, and the set ended with a kill from Anderson for the 25-21 victory. 

In the second set, the score was close early on with ties of one, two, three and four points each, as the Lady Lions broke the 4-4 tie with a point and took a lead they didn’t relinquish for the remainder of the set. 

FHS took a 7-5 lead with a massive hit over the net from Hattan, and later a lead of 13-7 following points from Cox. 

Eastern later answered with an ace from Morgan Malott, though FHS kept on rolling with a 17-11 lead with a point at the net scored by Anderson. Eastern had another ace from Bree Jimison, as EHS got to within four points of Fairfield’s lead at 18-14. 

Set two continued with a point scored off a serve from Fairfield’s Anderson, and eventually the Lady Lions scored the final three points with two serves by Hattan and a point at the net from Cox for the 25-16 win. 

Set three was dominated by the Lady Lions at Grandle Gymnasium, as Fairfield built a 6-0 lead with aces by Clark, who was a big part of the the six-point lead via scoring aces. 

The lead went to 8-1 off a hit by Anderson, and after taking a 9-1 lead for FHS, the Lady Warriors called a timeout. 

As the third set continued, FHS had an ace from Moon, along with points scored by Taylor, Hattan and Jadi Howland off a serve for a 16-2 lead. Haley Crabtree made it a 21-3 lead for FHS with a point scored off a serve, and the score was 23-5 following a hard hit over the net by Hattan. 

FHS eventually ended the third set and match with a 25-8 win. 

Coach Stackhouse spoke about what her team needs to improve on as the season continues. 

“Serving is something we try to focus on in practice and spend a lot of time on it,” Stackhouse said. “Last night (against Washington) we missed 15 serves, so we really pushed forward today and made sure that was our concentration during warmups. 

“We have to work on everything, we have to work on our timing with our sets, and we have to work on getting our passes up to the setter so our setting isn’t working in overdrive.”

In the JV game, Fairfield won in two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-23. 

Fairfield’s next game is on Thursday, Aug. 24 on the road against the Piketon Redstreaks in non-conference action with a JV start time of 5:30 with varsity to follow.