Lady Tigers rally to defeat Washington
Members of the McClain Lady Tigers volleyball team celebrate following their FAC win over Washington. (HCP Photos/Jim Jones)
GREENFIELD — The McClain varsity volleyball team lost their opening set to conference rival Washington 25-16, but recovered and took three of the next four sets to win in exciting fashion three games to two in front of an energized Lady Tiger crowd on Thursday evening at McClain Gym.
After losing that opening set the McClain girls rallied and led from start to finish in game two, wining 25-20.
Sophomore hitter Alaya Jackson and her front row teammates dominated at the net for most of the set and senior Lydia Beatty was the serving leader registering two aces.
The third game was the closet of the match and McClain looked great and led the entire game until the Lady Blue Lions battled back to tie the game at 20-20, and then pulled out the hard-fought victory 26-24 to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
In game four the Lady Tigers played just like they did in the second set and led from start to finish and won easily 25-17 to tie the match again at two sets each, forcing a game five.
Beatty served well for McClain in the fourth game and junior Adalynn Snyder also had a solid all-around game.
In the deciding fifth set the Lady Tigers played outstanding and won in convincing style 15-5 to take the match three to two.
Sophomore Molly McCune and Beatty were the serving leaders while freshman Brynlee Karnes, Jackson, and junior Anzli Beatty controlled the net for McClain with all three having huge kills in the game.
“I thought we finally settled in after that tough first set loss,” McClain head coach Cierra Bolender said. “We had several girls step up big for us the rest of the match and I’m really proud of them all.
“Lydia Beatty, who is one of our three seniors led us in serving all night, I think she had eight aces and Alaya Jackson who’s only a sophomore and freshman Brynlee Karnes both led us in kills with ten each.
“Molly McCune who is one of our setters in the back row played very well for us along with Adalynn Snyder. Adalynn is our constant player right now, she’s very dependable and covers the floor really well.”
McClain was scheduled to play in a tournament at Unioto H.S. on Saturday, Aug. 30 and will have a week layoff for the Highland County Fair before traveling to Western Brown on Monday, Sept. 8.
