Lady Indians win 5-set match over Lady Tigers

GREENFIELD — The second meeting was just as competitive as the first time they met this season, and it was the same result as the Hillsboro Lady Indians won their Highland County rivalry match over the host McClain Lady Tigers in five sets.

The win Thursday night by the Lady Indians saw them win set two 25-23, set four 25-18 and the final set, set five 18-16.

"Every one of the girls played well," HHS head coach Amy Vance said. "This was a classic Hillsboro-McClain match. We started off slow in the first match, and that's a reverse for us, because it has been the second match that has caused us problems.

"I'm very pleased with this win, because records don't matter when you play Greenfield. You'd better be ready to play when you face them."

McClain won sets one and three at 25-23 and 25-22.

"This was a very exciting match, but it just didn't turn out the way we had hoped," MHS head coach Emma Gall said. "We wanted a win, but we did have several people play well.

"We have to be more consistent."

Earlier this week, McClain defeated Peebles and Miami Trace.

The set that eventually mattered the most was the tie-breaking fifth set. That set (the first to 15 and ahead by two points) saw HHS start with a strong 5-0 lead with help with points from Kirsten Juillerat and Madison Snyder.

Juillerat put HHS up early with the first point of the fifth set as she made a block at the top of the net. The score went to 3-0 off a tip at the top of the net by Snyder.

Serving during those points was Erin Hagan. The HHS lead eventually went to 6-1 with another point by Juillerat.

McClain began to make it close once again, with Jhaela Coleman scoring the fourth MHS point of the set for what was a 9-4 MHS deficit.

But again, the Lady Indians had points off their serves, this time by Taylor Remsing, including an ace for a 12-4 HHS lead.

The seventh MHS point of set five was maybe the toughest point earned of the evening, as both teams battled tough for a few minutes, making numerous digs and diving saves, until eventually scoring the point.

In that span, the score went from HHS leading 12-4 to MHS trailing by just a single point at 12-11. Serving during those points was Sydney Barton.

Eventually, MHS rallied to tie the score at 13, but HHS made it a 14-13 score with a point by Juillerat. MHS answered with a point by Savannah Anderson, tying the score at 14.

This time, the tie was broken by Emma Reno of HHS, but the score went to 15-15 after an HHS serve hit their own side of the net.

MHS took a lead with a point at the net by Allie Orr-Zody, but Hillsboro's Remsing made it 16 all.

That's when HHS took control for good with Remsing scoring the next point by sending the ball fiercely over the net and off a McClain player, and the winning point came from an ace by Ali Stratton for the 18-16 score.

As for the other four sets, MHS led set one 18-15 at one point, but HHS tied it at 18. The score was then tied at 19, 20 and 22.

MHS broke the 22-22 tie with a point by Barton, followed by HHS hitting their own net, putting MHS one point away winning the first set. The first set was eventually won with a spike by McClain's Sarah Thompson.

The second set saw HHS jump out to a 5-1 lead following a block by Reno and an ace from Mallory Overberg.

McClain later tied the score at 8-8 with help from the serving of Kelcey Smith, including two aces.

The score was tied at 9 and 11 in the second set, but HHS eventually leapt ahead 20-13 after serves (including three aces) by Remsing.

HHS eventually won the second set with a point from Overberg.

Set three was never tied, but saw MHS start off with a 6-2 lead with scoring from Smith and Orr-Zody.

Later, HHS rallied off seven straight points to make the score go from 13-3 to 13-10.

As the third set continued, an ace by Hillsboro's Hagan brought HHS to within two points of tying the score at 17-15.

MHS later led 24-19, but HHS made it tough on the hosts to gain that final point of the third set by scoring three points before MHS clinched the third set with HHS hitting their own net.

The fourth set was tied at 7, 8 and 15, and following the score being tied at 15, HHS outscored the Lady Tigers, 10-3 for the fourth set victory.

HHS scored the final five points of the fourth set, including points from Reno at the net and points off the serve from Juillerat, including an ace that made the score 24-18. The final point of set four was off an own net point by MHS.