Fairfield sweeps rival Whiteoak in 3 sets
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lady Lions and Whiteoak Lady Wildcats both have been playing most nights without a break in the 2019 volleyball schedule. On Tuesday night, the Lady Lions had to battle strong as Whiteoak raised their level of play, resulting in two close sets that took more than 25 points to win.
The end result, though, saw Fairfield defend their home court with a three-set win over Whiteoak by scores of 25-16, 26-24 and 28-26 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
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“Our girls fought back when they needed to, and we are pretty young — a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the floor at the same times — and they get a little rattled,” FHS coach Lesley Hattan said. “I’ve been preaching to them mental focus, and luckily they were able to stay focused enough that they were able to pull through for the win.
“We had too many communication mistakes, and that was the big thing. We did have a lot of good serves, and we were on with that tonight.”
In the first set of the SHAC match, there were no tied scores, and serves by sophomore Emma Fouch, along with points by sophomore Braylynn Haines and junior Layla Hattan, left the Lady Lions in front by a score of 8-3.
Later, WHS battled back a bit with a point scored at the front of the net by senior Destiny Price, but Fairfield came back with a point from Taylor Lawson and an ace by Hattan for a 11-4 Fairfield lead.
As the opening set continued, Whiteoak junior Jeanette Cox, and senior Cylee Bratton got the Lady ’Cats to their eighth point, though they still trailed at 13-8, as in between their scoring Fairfield freshman Peyton Magee had a block at the net.
Towards the end of the first set, Fairfield broke away and ended up winning the set by nine points at 25-16.
The second set was much tougher for the Lady Lions to win with the Lady ’Cats amping up their play a couple levels, as the score was tied 11 times, from 1-1 all the way to 24-24. In the early stages of the match, Fairfield had a solid serve from senior Saylor Priest, and later, a kill by Hattan. An ace by Price of Whiteoak pushed WHS ahead shortly at 4-3.
As the second set continued, WHS had points from freshman Faith Miller off a serve, and later a point from Hattan left FHS ahead at 8-5.
Whiteoak didn’t back down with Kiley Hamilton scoring a point off a serve, and the Lady ’Cats were within one point of FHS with a kill from Bratton. An ace by senior Grace Lawson gave FHS a three-point lead, but the Lady ’Cats battled back strongly to tie the score at 11-11.
WHS took the lead at 12-11 with a serve by Fairfield landing out of play, and from there the Lady ’Cats built a 15-11 advantage, with one of the points being an ace from Bratton.
Later, the score saw Whiteoak’s lead cut to two points when Haines added a point to the FHS side of the scoreboard, and then an ace by Miller made it a 18-17 score, bringing FHS to within a point of Whiteoak.
Hattan tied the score at 21, and then WHS tied the score at 22 with a point from Bratton. FHS later took a 24-23 advantage with a serve from Grace Lawson and then worked their way to a two-point win at 26-24.
The third and what was final set saw FHS take an early 4-1 lead following a block by junior Megan Crum, along with the serving of Priest. Whiteoak’s first point of the third set came to break a four-point scoring streak with a block by Price.
Fairfield later built a 7-5 lead, then a 9-6 advantage with a point from Hattan. Hattan later made it a 13-9 Fairfield lead, but WHS fought back, tying the score at 15-15.
The third set continued to see the score tied at 18, 19 and even 24 points, as WHS held a lead, only to see it erased with a serve from Haines. FHS tied the score and kept the set going with a kill from Hattan for a 25-25 tied score. Again the score was tied, this time at 26, but the final two points by Fairfield led to the win, including help by Fouch, who during the final point had a couple digs that continued the set.
Whiteoak coach Katie Pollard spoke about her team’s performance on Tuesday.
“We started to play some smart ball, putting the ball where they weren’t and hitting the ball hard a few times and changing things up like that,” Pollard said. “That is how volleyball is played, and we were changing things up enough. The past two years, we’ve been pushing too much and not attacking enough, and tonight I think we attacked much better.
“I can see from our stats we attacked more than what we usually do. Our receiving was awesome. Fairfield has some awesome servers, but that didn’t affect us one bit, and I changed up my line a bit and it worked. I talked to the girls afterwards, and this lineup flowed a little better, and playing a couple girls front row instead of back row, and vice versa, keeps things fresh.”
The schedule early on has been packed full of games, as Whiteoak and Fairfield both will be off next week due to the Highland County Fair.
“Playing so many games before fair is hard, It is draining, and sometimes you have to figure things out during games since we don’t have many practices,” Pollard said. “Tonight I did that in probably one of our biggest games of the year, and it worked. We took them to 28-26 and 26-24, and the first set we lost because we lost we are never work up on away games in that first set.
One player for WHS who stood out on Tuesday came up from the JV team and that was Brooklyn Gross.
“This year, Brooklyn stepped in and played well,” Pollard said. “She can read a hit really well and get in line with it or let it go out. Allie Kiley is hitting well, and Cylee Bratton had some hard hits, and so did Sydney Scott. She got a lot more hits than she normally does.
“Also, I want to thank Destiny for playing a position she normally doesn’t play at front middle. She usually plays back middle, and I put her in there that second game and it just started working. Our serves were on point, and we only had four service errors and 13 aces as a team, and that is big to have that many aces against Fairfield because they move really well off the ball.”
Fairfield now improves to 6-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in the SHAC. Whiteoak is now 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the SHAC.
“I’m happy overall with how the girls are playing this season,” Hattan said. “They all are working really hard, and they want to get better everyday. When we lost our senior Allie (Davis), we had to get refocused and re-plan everything we had to do, and they are stepping up.
“If we want to continue winning, we are going to have to stay more consistent. The inconsistencies we had tonight won’t get us very many more wins.”
On Monday night, the Lady Wildcats earned a win in non-conference play over Felicity-Franklin by a 3-2 match score.
Next for Fairfield is a home match on Thursday, Aug. 29 vs. Ripley in a SHAC contest.
Whiteoak plays again on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Eastern Brown in SHAC play.
The end result, though, saw Fairfield defend their home court with a three-set win over Whiteoak by scores of 25-16, 26-24 and 28-26 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
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“Our girls fought back when they needed to, and we are pretty young — a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the floor at the same times — and they get a little rattled,” FHS coach Lesley Hattan said. “I’ve been preaching to them mental focus, and luckily they were able to stay focused enough that they were able to pull through for the win.
“We had too many communication mistakes, and that was the big thing. We did have a lot of good serves, and we were on with that tonight.”
In the first set of the SHAC match, there were no tied scores, and serves by sophomore Emma Fouch, along with points by sophomore Braylynn Haines and junior Layla Hattan, left the Lady Lions in front by a score of 8-3.
Later, WHS battled back a bit with a point scored at the front of the net by senior Destiny Price, but Fairfield came back with a point from Taylor Lawson and an ace by Hattan for a 11-4 Fairfield lead.
As the opening set continued, Whiteoak junior Jeanette Cox, and senior Cylee Bratton got the Lady ’Cats to their eighth point, though they still trailed at 13-8, as in between their scoring Fairfield freshman Peyton Magee had a block at the net.
Towards the end of the first set, Fairfield broke away and ended up winning the set by nine points at 25-16.
The second set was much tougher for the Lady Lions to win with the Lady ’Cats amping up their play a couple levels, as the score was tied 11 times, from 1-1 all the way to 24-24. In the early stages of the match, Fairfield had a solid serve from senior Saylor Priest, and later, a kill by Hattan. An ace by Price of Whiteoak pushed WHS ahead shortly at 4-3.
As the second set continued, WHS had points from freshman Faith Miller off a serve, and later a point from Hattan left FHS ahead at 8-5.
Whiteoak didn’t back down with Kiley Hamilton scoring a point off a serve, and the Lady ’Cats were within one point of FHS with a kill from Bratton. An ace by senior Grace Lawson gave FHS a three-point lead, but the Lady ’Cats battled back strongly to tie the score at 11-11.
WHS took the lead at 12-11 with a serve by Fairfield landing out of play, and from there the Lady ’Cats built a 15-11 advantage, with one of the points being an ace from Bratton.
Later, the score saw Whiteoak’s lead cut to two points when Haines added a point to the FHS side of the scoreboard, and then an ace by Miller made it a 18-17 score, bringing FHS to within a point of Whiteoak.
Hattan tied the score at 21, and then WHS tied the score at 22 with a point from Bratton. FHS later took a 24-23 advantage with a serve from Grace Lawson and then worked their way to a two-point win at 26-24.
The third and what was final set saw FHS take an early 4-1 lead following a block by junior Megan Crum, along with the serving of Priest. Whiteoak’s first point of the third set came to break a four-point scoring streak with a block by Price.
Fairfield later built a 7-5 lead, then a 9-6 advantage with a point from Hattan. Hattan later made it a 13-9 Fairfield lead, but WHS fought back, tying the score at 15-15.
The third set continued to see the score tied at 18, 19 and even 24 points, as WHS held a lead, only to see it erased with a serve from Haines. FHS tied the score and kept the set going with a kill from Hattan for a 25-25 tied score. Again the score was tied, this time at 26, but the final two points by Fairfield led to the win, including help by Fouch, who during the final point had a couple digs that continued the set.
Whiteoak coach Katie Pollard spoke about her team’s performance on Tuesday.
“We started to play some smart ball, putting the ball where they weren’t and hitting the ball hard a few times and changing things up like that,” Pollard said. “That is how volleyball is played, and we were changing things up enough. The past two years, we’ve been pushing too much and not attacking enough, and tonight I think we attacked much better.
“I can see from our stats we attacked more than what we usually do. Our receiving was awesome. Fairfield has some awesome servers, but that didn’t affect us one bit, and I changed up my line a bit and it worked. I talked to the girls afterwards, and this lineup flowed a little better, and playing a couple girls front row instead of back row, and vice versa, keeps things fresh.”
The schedule early on has been packed full of games, as Whiteoak and Fairfield both will be off next week due to the Highland County Fair.
“Playing so many games before fair is hard, It is draining, and sometimes you have to figure things out during games since we don’t have many practices,” Pollard said. “Tonight I did that in probably one of our biggest games of the year, and it worked. We took them to 28-26 and 26-24, and the first set we lost because we lost we are never work up on away games in that first set.
One player for WHS who stood out on Tuesday came up from the JV team and that was Brooklyn Gross.
“This year, Brooklyn stepped in and played well,” Pollard said. “She can read a hit really well and get in line with it or let it go out. Allie Kiley is hitting well, and Cylee Bratton had some hard hits, and so did Sydney Scott. She got a lot more hits than she normally does.
“Also, I want to thank Destiny for playing a position she normally doesn’t play at front middle. She usually plays back middle, and I put her in there that second game and it just started working. Our serves were on point, and we only had four service errors and 13 aces as a team, and that is big to have that many aces against Fairfield because they move really well off the ball.”
Fairfield now improves to 6-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in the SHAC. Whiteoak is now 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the SHAC.
“I’m happy overall with how the girls are playing this season,” Hattan said. “They all are working really hard, and they want to get better everyday. When we lost our senior Allie (Davis), we had to get refocused and re-plan everything we had to do, and they are stepping up.
“If we want to continue winning, we are going to have to stay more consistent. The inconsistencies we had tonight won’t get us very many more wins.”
On Monday night, the Lady Wildcats earned a win in non-conference play over Felicity-Franklin by a 3-2 match score.
Next for Fairfield is a home match on Thursday, Aug. 29 vs. Ripley in a SHAC contest.
Whiteoak plays again on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Eastern Brown in SHAC play.