McClain wins at home over Hillsboro
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — In a match of two Highland County rivals, the McClain Lady Tigers defended their home court Thursday by avenging a loss from earlier in the season by defeating the Hillsboro Lady Indians in four sets.
McClain won the first two sets by scores of 25-14 and 25-22. HHS broke the sweep with a win in the third set at 26-24, only to see the host Lady Tigers dominate the fourth set at 25-9.
“It was a great game for the girls. They needed this. We’ve kind of been in a funk lately. We haven’t been doing as well as we thought we would, so getting the four-set victory, we really needed that,” MHS head coach Taylor Alsop said. “Especially that last set, that really helped them seal the deal and say ‘we are good enough.’ We’ve been working a lot on getting the first ball and getting a kill right off of it, right off the bat.
“We did that a lot (Wednesday). We spent about 30 minutes or more on it, so a lot of it I’m just trying to push that drive in them, to want to keep going, to want to beat a team by a whole bunch instead of letting up. Sometimes we still do it, but I think tonight we did a lot better at holding on.”
After McClain won the first set by a 25-14 score, it was the second set where they had to battle even tougher, but still earned the win by a 25-22 score. Late in the second set, McClain led at 22-20, then 23-20 with a point from Camryn Mccoy. MHS then held a 23-22 advantage and from there built that lead to 24-22 with a point off a kill by Jaelyn Pitzer. The second set ended with an ace.
In set three, the Lady Indians of Hillsboro scored the first five points of the match with three aces by Gracie Dean and later led 9-4 following a point by Mya Bell. HHS then had a kill from Dean, only to see McClain’s McCoy and Maddy Crawford score points with kills for an 11-8 deficit for McClain. Crawford led MHS with 11 kills.
Later, the score was 15-11 in favor of HHS, as the 11th McClain point was scored by Crawford. McClain continued to rally with Pitzer (five kills) making the score 18-16, and then it was 20-18 with McClain still trailing by two points after a point by Gracey Eakins of MHS.
MHS later got back to within two points again with a kill and block by Crawford, but the Lady Indians continued to keep the lead, as they led 24-22 later in the third set.
McClain tied the score at 24 with a play at the net by Iva Easter (five kills) and an ace from Crawford. The Lady Indians won the match after two fouls were called on MHS for the third set win at 26-24.
The Lady Tigers had a strong start in set four with a 4-0 lead with helps from Pitzer, Crawford and Brooke Beatty. HHS came back to within a point of the Lady Tigers, as Emma Birkhimer had a block.
The lead continued to stay with MHS, as Eakins had a serve that HHS was unable to return over the net for a 9-5 lead, and later in the fourth set, it was MHS building their advantage to 10 points at 17-7.
MHS didn’t struggle much the rest of the way, as they built a 20-9 lead. Later, a serve from Pitzer put MHS in front at 23-9, and the match eventually ended with the 25th point going to the Lady Tigers for the win at 25-9.
Also in the match for McClain, Evelyn VanZant collected four aces and four digs.
Leaders for HHS included Dean with 30 digs, 14 kills and six aces; Sinai Roberts with one block; and Rylie Scott with 21 assists.
McClain won the first two sets by scores of 25-14 and 25-22. HHS broke the sweep with a win in the third set at 26-24, only to see the host Lady Tigers dominate the fourth set at 25-9.
“It was a great game for the girls. They needed this. We’ve kind of been in a funk lately. We haven’t been doing as well as we thought we would, so getting the four-set victory, we really needed that,” MHS head coach Taylor Alsop said. “Especially that last set, that really helped them seal the deal and say ‘we are good enough.’ We’ve been working a lot on getting the first ball and getting a kill right off of it, right off the bat.
“We did that a lot (Wednesday). We spent about 30 minutes or more on it, so a lot of it I’m just trying to push that drive in them, to want to keep going, to want to beat a team by a whole bunch instead of letting up. Sometimes we still do it, but I think tonight we did a lot better at holding on.”
After McClain won the first set by a 25-14 score, it was the second set where they had to battle even tougher, but still earned the win by a 25-22 score. Late in the second set, McClain led at 22-20, then 23-20 with a point from Camryn Mccoy. MHS then held a 23-22 advantage and from there built that lead to 24-22 with a point off a kill by Jaelyn Pitzer. The second set ended with an ace.
In set three, the Lady Indians of Hillsboro scored the first five points of the match with three aces by Gracie Dean and later led 9-4 following a point by Mya Bell. HHS then had a kill from Dean, only to see McClain’s McCoy and Maddy Crawford score points with kills for an 11-8 deficit for McClain. Crawford led MHS with 11 kills.
Later, the score was 15-11 in favor of HHS, as the 11th McClain point was scored by Crawford. McClain continued to rally with Pitzer (five kills) making the score 18-16, and then it was 20-18 with McClain still trailing by two points after a point by Gracey Eakins of MHS.
MHS later got back to within two points again with a kill and block by Crawford, but the Lady Indians continued to keep the lead, as they led 24-22 later in the third set.
McClain tied the score at 24 with a play at the net by Iva Easter (five kills) and an ace from Crawford. The Lady Indians won the match after two fouls were called on MHS for the third set win at 26-24.
The Lady Tigers had a strong start in set four with a 4-0 lead with helps from Pitzer, Crawford and Brooke Beatty. HHS came back to within a point of the Lady Tigers, as Emma Birkhimer had a block.
The lead continued to stay with MHS, as Eakins had a serve that HHS was unable to return over the net for a 9-5 lead, and later in the fourth set, it was MHS building their advantage to 10 points at 17-7.
MHS didn’t struggle much the rest of the way, as they built a 20-9 lead. Later, a serve from Pitzer put MHS in front at 23-9, and the match eventually ended with the 25th point going to the Lady Tigers for the win at 25-9.
Also in the match for McClain, Evelyn VanZant collected four aces and four digs.
Leaders for HHS included Dean with 30 digs, 14 kills and six aces; Sinai Roberts with one block; and Rylie Scott with 21 assists.