Chillicothe sweeps Lady Tigers in 3 sets; Eikenberry reaches 500 career kills

The McClain varsity volleyball team dropped a three-set match to a very good Chillicothe squad by scores of 25-17, 27-25 and 25-19 in Greenfield last Thursday night.

It was a night where senior front-row hitter Anna Eikenberry got the 500th kill of her high school career at McClain.

In the first game of the night, Chillicothe led early on, but the Lady Tigers came back in the middle part and held a lead until the Lady Cavaliers went on a 14-5 run down the stretch and won 25-17.

The most exciting and closest set of the match was the second, were both teams went back and forth with several lead changes before Chillicothe pulled it out at the end, winning 27-25 to take a 2-0 advantage.

In the third set, the Lady Cavaliers held just a 16-13 lead midway into the game, but like the first set, outscored McClain 9-6 down the stretch and won 25-19, taking the match.

“I think this was a nice turnaround for us from Tuesday night,” said McClain head coach Taylor Alsop. “I think what really hurt us tonight was when a close call didn’t go our way, my girls let that get into their heads getting them down.

“It also seemed like my girls got a little too comfortable at times and looked like they were sitting back waiting on something positive to happen. I thought we did do a pretty good job of minimizing their big girls’ scoring opportunities at the net. Just seems like we’re in a little bit of a rut right now, and we can’t seem to pull ourselves out of it, and that started a couple of weeks ago at Unioto.”

Despite the disappointing result, another Lady Tiger volleyball milestone was accomplished by the aforementioned Eikenberry.

“I’m really proud of all my girls and the hard work they’ve put in all year,” Alsop said. “These three seniors, Katie Cook [500th dig], Kylea Toney [school-record 643 kills] and now Anna Eikenberry, who got her 500th kill today, have all reached impressive milestones for their careers.

“They have worked extremely hard all summer and continue to work hard and have been great team leaders, along with all the other seniors on this team.”

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