McClain defends home court with three-set win over rival Hillsboro
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — Taking three sets, the McClain Lady Tigers saved their final set for their best performance as they defended their home court on Tuesday night to defeat the Hillsboro Lady Indians in three consecutive sets for the Frontier Athletic Conference win.
The Lady Tigers won the Highland County and FAC rivalry match by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-14, with five straight serves by Jaelyn Pitzer ending the third and final set.
McClain finished the match with Pitzer having seven aces, as she was 11-of-17 serving, and the leading server was Cierra Bolender with eight aces (11-13). Also for MHS, Kaleigh Easter totaled two aces, and she was a perfect 11-of-11 serving for McClain.
[[In-content Ad]]
Pitzer also finished with eight kills and was 22-of-25 passing, while teammate Maddy Crawford had seven kills and Bolender totaled five kills and was 10-of-14 passing. Also for MHS, Ashley Hardesty was 31-of-36 passing.
For Hillsboro, their leaders included Hope Middleton with six kills and 14 digs. Katie Condo had 12 assists, and three players served at 100 percent in Katie Condo, Paige Loudin and Julie Middleton.
McClain head coach Taylor Alsop spoke about the home FAC win for her team.
“It is always good to get a win on your rival because those girls (Hillsboro) came to want to win just as much as our girls wanted to win,” McClain head coach Taylor Alsop said. “Our serving picked up, and in the first two sets we missed a total of nine serves altogether. Once we got to that last set, and once it kicked in and not missing serves, we put it away and everything started clicking.”
Following a first set where MHS won by five points at 25-20, the second set was just as close, even including Hillsboro leading in the early stages, building their set two lead to 9-4. Hillsboro kept the lead as the score went to 11-7, but MHS came back with a point by Maddy Crawford with a spike to get the Lady Tigers to within four points of the HHS lead.
As the second set continued, HHS increased their lead to 16-11 following a point from Gracie Dean. McClain got back on track and gained the momentum with serves from Bolender, plus a play at the net by Gracey Eakins eventually tied the score at 16-16. Later, the score was tied against at 17 points each, but from there, McClain held the lead for good.
McClain’s Pitzer and Eakins helped move the Lady Tigers ahead by a 20-17 advantage, and though HHS got back to within a point of MHS following a point at the next from Gracie Dean, MHS eventually did enough to not lose the lead and win by a 25-21 score with the final point coming off a hit by Iva Easter with the ball bouncing off a player from HHS.
“It is always hard to come to McClain and beat them,” HHS head coach Nichole Dickey said. “It is a game the girls really, really want both ways, and it is a hard game to play. The first set we were back and forth in the score, and the second set we were up a couple times but weren’t able to finish that one out.
“The third set speaks for itself. We got behind and got down and never got back up in that third set.”
The third set included the score being tied at 3-3, but a point by the Lady Indians’ Emma Birkhimer pushed HHS ahead by a 5-3 score. MHS eventually regained the lead at 6-5 and held onto the advantage for the rest of the third and final set.
The score later went to 12-8 in favor of the home team following an ace by Bolender, and a block by Crawford and another serve by Bolender left the Lady Tigers ahead by six points at 14-8. HHS broke the scoring streak of MHS with a point at the next by Dean, and later a spike by Middleton left HHS trailing by four points at 15-11.
As the match continued, MHS had a point from Madi Sykes, as HHS scored a point off a hit from Abby Brown to make the score 18-12. After HHS made the score 20-14 (trailing by six points), McClain regained possession of the serving following a hit by Pitzer, and the Lady Tigers never looked back. Next came serves that went for aces and serves by Pitzer that bounced off the opposition, eventually sending MHS to the 25-14 set-three win.
“This was a team effort, and everybody was on at the same time,” Alsop said. “Everybody worked together. Our passing was on, we had players come off the bench and work through it, and our hits were on. Everybody overall did really well.
“Moving forward, I’m hoping we can start gelling from this and move to the direction were were moving toward at first. Hopefully we’ll get them when we come to Hillsboro, but credit McClain, Taylor did a good job with them tonight.”
The win moves MHS to 4-10 overall, 1-4 in the FAC. The Lady Indians are now 2-13 overall and 0-5 in the FAC.
Next for McClain is a home match on Thursday, Sept. 19 against the Washington Lady Blue Lions. HHS will next play on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Chillicothe against the Lady Cavaliers.
The Lady Tigers won the Highland County and FAC rivalry match by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-14, with five straight serves by Jaelyn Pitzer ending the third and final set.
McClain finished the match with Pitzer having seven aces, as she was 11-of-17 serving, and the leading server was Cierra Bolender with eight aces (11-13). Also for MHS, Kaleigh Easter totaled two aces, and she was a perfect 11-of-11 serving for McClain.
[[In-content Ad]]
Pitzer also finished with eight kills and was 22-of-25 passing, while teammate Maddy Crawford had seven kills and Bolender totaled five kills and was 10-of-14 passing. Also for MHS, Ashley Hardesty was 31-of-36 passing.
For Hillsboro, their leaders included Hope Middleton with six kills and 14 digs. Katie Condo had 12 assists, and three players served at 100 percent in Katie Condo, Paige Loudin and Julie Middleton.
McClain head coach Taylor Alsop spoke about the home FAC win for her team.
“It is always good to get a win on your rival because those girls (Hillsboro) came to want to win just as much as our girls wanted to win,” McClain head coach Taylor Alsop said. “Our serving picked up, and in the first two sets we missed a total of nine serves altogether. Once we got to that last set, and once it kicked in and not missing serves, we put it away and everything started clicking.”
Following a first set where MHS won by five points at 25-20, the second set was just as close, even including Hillsboro leading in the early stages, building their set two lead to 9-4. Hillsboro kept the lead as the score went to 11-7, but MHS came back with a point by Maddy Crawford with a spike to get the Lady Tigers to within four points of the HHS lead.
As the second set continued, HHS increased their lead to 16-11 following a point from Gracie Dean. McClain got back on track and gained the momentum with serves from Bolender, plus a play at the net by Gracey Eakins eventually tied the score at 16-16. Later, the score was tied against at 17 points each, but from there, McClain held the lead for good.
McClain’s Pitzer and Eakins helped move the Lady Tigers ahead by a 20-17 advantage, and though HHS got back to within a point of MHS following a point at the next from Gracie Dean, MHS eventually did enough to not lose the lead and win by a 25-21 score with the final point coming off a hit by Iva Easter with the ball bouncing off a player from HHS.
“It is always hard to come to McClain and beat them,” HHS head coach Nichole Dickey said. “It is a game the girls really, really want both ways, and it is a hard game to play. The first set we were back and forth in the score, and the second set we were up a couple times but weren’t able to finish that one out.
“The third set speaks for itself. We got behind and got down and never got back up in that third set.”
The third set included the score being tied at 3-3, but a point by the Lady Indians’ Emma Birkhimer pushed HHS ahead by a 5-3 score. MHS eventually regained the lead at 6-5 and held onto the advantage for the rest of the third and final set.
The score later went to 12-8 in favor of the home team following an ace by Bolender, and a block by Crawford and another serve by Bolender left the Lady Tigers ahead by six points at 14-8. HHS broke the scoring streak of MHS with a point at the next by Dean, and later a spike by Middleton left HHS trailing by four points at 15-11.
As the match continued, MHS had a point from Madi Sykes, as HHS scored a point off a hit from Abby Brown to make the score 18-12. After HHS made the score 20-14 (trailing by six points), McClain regained possession of the serving following a hit by Pitzer, and the Lady Tigers never looked back. Next came serves that went for aces and serves by Pitzer that bounced off the opposition, eventually sending MHS to the 25-14 set-three win.
“This was a team effort, and everybody was on at the same time,” Alsop said. “Everybody worked together. Our passing was on, we had players come off the bench and work through it, and our hits were on. Everybody overall did really well.
“Moving forward, I’m hoping we can start gelling from this and move to the direction were were moving toward at first. Hopefully we’ll get them when we come to Hillsboro, but credit McClain, Taylor did a good job with them tonight.”
The win moves MHS to 4-10 overall, 1-4 in the FAC. The Lady Indians are now 2-13 overall and 0-5 in the FAC.
Next for McClain is a home match on Thursday, Sept. 19 against the Washington Lady Blue Lions. HHS will next play on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Chillicothe against the Lady Cavaliers.