Hillsboro wins 'Volley for a Cure' match over McClain

HILLSBORO — The Hillsboro Lady Indians and the McClain Lady Tigers played for a much better cause than a win in the South Central Ohio League standings Thursday night.

Though HHS won in three games over the visiting and rival McClain Lady Tigers, the two teams played in the annual Volley for a Cure game hosted by Hillsboro, where they raised funds to go to the Susan G. Komen Fund for breast cancer research.

The event had numerous fundraisers, and guest speaker, 23-year-old Caitlin Adkins (a HHS graduate), spoke of her courageous battle with breast cancer following the three-game match.

“First, I want to thank Paula Kiser for putting on Volley for the Cure," HHS head coach Nichole Dickey said. "Paula has put this on since 2010, and she just does an amazing job.

"We thank Caitlin for coming back and speaking to everyone (Thursday), letting all the girls know breast cancer doesn't discriminate, and everyone needs to be aware."

As for the match itself, HHS won by scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-18.

In the third and final game, it was tied six times, including a final time of 12-12. It was Hillsboro who jumped out to the early 3-0 lead, though MHS came back to tie the score at 3-3, and later at 7-7 and 8-8.

In that time frame, Hillsboro's Taylor Remsing contributed to the HHS scoring, though it was McClain who held the lead at 7-5.

After the score was tied at 8-8, MHS took a 9-8 lead with help off a point scored by Chayden Pitzer, along with an ace by Jhaela Coleman earlier in the game.

HHS came back with an ace from Emma Reno, but MHS tied the score again, this time at 11-11 with a play at the net from Pitzer.

The Lady Indians tied the game for the final time at 12-12 with a tip at the front of the net by Madison Snyder, and later Remsing put the hosts ahead 15-12 with another point.

McClain rallied with a point from Coleman and got to within one point of tying the score as Malea Montavon made it a 16-15 score. HHS responded with Reno having a timely kill, and later she helped put the Lady Indians in front by five at 20-15.

Montavon answered with a spike of her own, but HHS never relinquished the lead as they eventually won by the 25-18 score with the final point of the match being scored off a kill from Reno.

"McClain played a good game," Dickey said. "The girls have been coming together more and more each game, which is what you want to see. We have two freshmen starting and who played well (Sydney Bobbitt, Jordan Williamson), and we had Taylor with 17 kills.

"We also had Emma with 10 kills, and Kerstin Thornburgh served 100-percent again. She's been doing that all season, and Madison Snyder is always where you need her to be. We hope to keep the momentum going as we get near the tournament."