Hillsboro volleyball drops 3-set match to visiting Miami Trace

HILLSBORO — Though the second set was an epic battle between the two Frontier Athletic Conference foes, the Hillsboro Lady Indians were unable to gain all the momentum needed to defeat the visiting Miami Trace Lady Panthers, falling in three consecutive sets Tuesday at HHS.

The loss inside the Hillsboro gymnasium saw the Lady Indians fall to MTHS by scores of 25-20, 30-28 and 25-13.

After falling in the first set by just five points at 25-20, the Lady Indians struggled early in set two, trailing 1-4, and by as many as 10 points at 14-4 before gaining some momentum on their side.

HHS battled to a 17-8 deficit and even trailed by a 19-10 score in set two following a kill by Addyson Butts of Miami Trace. HHS came back with a point from Cora Akers, and again it was Butts at the net for Miami Trace the put the Lady Panthers back in front by nine points at 20-11.

HHS continued to stand their ground on their home court with hard play at the front row of the net by Ryan Wagoner and Allie Roush, as those two helped bring the Lady Indians closer to the MT point total with multiple plays at the net, making it a 20-16 deficit.

Again, Wagoner scored a point for the host Lady Indians in set two, for a 20-18 deficit, and following another HHS point and a timeout by Miami Trace, the Lady Indians battled back from the double-point deficit to tie the score at 20-20 following a MTHS player hitting the ball consecutively, giving HHS their 20th point.

Next, the Lady Indians took the lead with a hit by Camryn Spruell, and went ahead 22-21 following an ace by Spruell.

Butts scored another point for Miami Trace, and Hillsboro’s Roush made it a two-point lead for the home team, at 23-21. MTHS continued to keep pace with Hillsboro, as they added a point following HHS hitting the ball out of play, and tied the score with a play at the net by Lauren Guess, for a 23-23 score.

After HHS hit the ball out of play, giving MTHS a 25-24 advantage, Akers tied the score for Hillsboro at 25, only to see Miami Trace’s Lauren Farrens put MTHS ahead at 26-25.

The second set battle continued to impress all of those in attendance as an out-of-play hit by Miami Trace left the score tied at 26, and another big play by Butts put the Lady Panthers ahead at 27-26.

Again, an out-of-play hit by the visitors left the score tied at 27, and Hillsboro regained the lead with a play at the net by Spruell for a 28-27 score.

After the score was tied at 28, a hit by Kylie Yeazel for MTHS let the Lady Panthers in the lead at 29-28, and the final point of the second set, giving the set two win to Miami Trace, was a kill by Butts for the 30-28 win.

The second set saw the score tied from 20 points and over seven times.

Miami Trace built a 5-2 lead in set three, but the score eventually went to 6-4 as Hillsboro’s fourth point was scored by Roush.

Miami Trace’s Ellie Robinette scored two straight points to put the Lady Panthers ahead by a 10-5 score, and later a block by Ava Shull of MTHS at the net left Hillsboro’s FAC rival ahead by a 13-5 score.

As the third set continued, MTHS began to pull away, with a lead eventually going to 16-6 and later 19-8. MTHS eventually built a 22-12 lead with an ace by Yeazel, and two final points by Butts ended the game with MTHS winning set three at 25-13.

The loss moves the Lady Indians to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the FAC. Miami Trace stays undefeated this season as they are now 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the FAC.

Next for Hillsboro is a home FAC contest Thursday, Sept. 14 against the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers.