Lady Tigers rally in sectionals; win in 5 sets
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The McClain Lady Tigers were tested, rallied numerous times and eventually forced five sets and won in the opening round of the sectional tournament by defeating the New Lexington Lady Panthers three sets to two Monday at McClain High School.
In a match that took over two hours, McClain lost the first set 25-22, followed by the Lady Tigers winning set two, 25-23. New Lexington won set three, 25-22.
With their season on the line, MHS forced an even longer set by taking the fourth set 26-24, and then in the match-deciding set, MHS won 15-13.
MHS now has six wins this season. New Lexington ends their year with three wins.
"This is the best I've seen the girls play all season," MHS coach Emma Gall said. "Sarah Thompson stepped up for us, and Kelcey Smith had some great serves.
"I'm very proud of the way the girls played (Monday) and all around … the girls played well. I have to credit the entire team in this win."
Though the first four sets were full of action, it was the fifth set that decided the match. As in all but the fourth set, New Lexington jumped out to the early advantage, leading 3-0. MHS tied the score at 3-3 and went ahead 5-3 off serves by Allie Orr-Zody and out of play hits by the Lady Panthers.
Later in the set, Smith had a big play at the front of the net, and following another out of play hit by NLHS, the Lady Tigers led 9-5.
Again, it was the serving by MHS that helped build their lead with serves by Caitlyn Lovett putting MHS ahead 13-7. NLHS continued to make the match tough on MHS as they cut their deficit to 14-12, then to 14-13, but it was a push over the net by Makenzie Olaker at the front of the net that forced NLHS to hit the ball on their side of the net, allowing McClain's season to continue.[[In-content Ad]]
The previous four sets were just as exciting, but not for MHS at first, as New Lexington led set one by a 6-0 score off serves by Tatum Brown, including three aces in that span.
From there, a block by McClain's Lori Shonkwiler, an ace by Smith, a block by Katy Unger and a point from Abby Storts eventually added up to MHS cutting the NLHS lead to 9-8.
Katelyn Highley eventually helped bring MHS to within two, as they trailed 13-11. Later in the first set, MHS had trouble scoring consecutive points but kept the score close … ending with three points in a row, including the 25th point of the set from Sydney Wycinski for the three-point win.
The Lady Tigers won set two by tying the score at 3-3 early on and overcame a seven-point deficit at 19-12. The Lady Tigers did that by rallying with six straight points, mostly off serves by Unger, and later trailed 21-20 with a point by Smith. MHS scored the final few points in the second set from Storts, Unger and Shonkwiler.
The third set was just as close as the first two, but at one point, MHS trailed 13-5 and 15-7. Then an ace by Smith and six straight points later by MHS, the score read 21-19, with MHS trailing by two.
MHS got as close as 24-22 before New Lexington's Maggie Bind ended the set to put her team up 2-1.
The fourth set was tied eight times as early as 1-1 and as late as 24-24.
The set looked as though MHS' season was close to coming to an end as they trailed 13-3, but MHS had the Lady Panthers right where they wanted them as aces from Smith and blocks by Unger eventually tied the score at 13-13 with MHS scoring 11 straight points for what was a 14-13 lead.
Eventually, the score was tied at 14, 16, 17 and 21. MHS tied the score at 24 with another ace by Smith and took a 25-24 lead with an out of play hit by New Lexington. The set-winning points (26-24) came off a serve by Smith.
"We've been working on our serving lately, and it showed," Gall said. "We've been giving away too many points, but not (Monday). The girls hustled, and this was a team win."
Next for McClain is a sectional match at Washington Senior High School against a South Central Ohio League foe in the Washington Lady Blue Lions (16-4) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Washington is the No. 1 seed in the North sectional bracket.
In a match that took over two hours, McClain lost the first set 25-22, followed by the Lady Tigers winning set two, 25-23. New Lexington won set three, 25-22.
With their season on the line, MHS forced an even longer set by taking the fourth set 26-24, and then in the match-deciding set, MHS won 15-13.
MHS now has six wins this season. New Lexington ends their year with three wins.
"This is the best I've seen the girls play all season," MHS coach Emma Gall said. "Sarah Thompson stepped up for us, and Kelcey Smith had some great serves.
"I'm very proud of the way the girls played (Monday) and all around … the girls played well. I have to credit the entire team in this win."
Though the first four sets were full of action, it was the fifth set that decided the match. As in all but the fourth set, New Lexington jumped out to the early advantage, leading 3-0. MHS tied the score at 3-3 and went ahead 5-3 off serves by Allie Orr-Zody and out of play hits by the Lady Panthers.
Later in the set, Smith had a big play at the front of the net, and following another out of play hit by NLHS, the Lady Tigers led 9-5.
Again, it was the serving by MHS that helped build their lead with serves by Caitlyn Lovett putting MHS ahead 13-7. NLHS continued to make the match tough on MHS as they cut their deficit to 14-12, then to 14-13, but it was a push over the net by Makenzie Olaker at the front of the net that forced NLHS to hit the ball on their side of the net, allowing McClain's season to continue.[[In-content Ad]]
The previous four sets were just as exciting, but not for MHS at first, as New Lexington led set one by a 6-0 score off serves by Tatum Brown, including three aces in that span.
From there, a block by McClain's Lori Shonkwiler, an ace by Smith, a block by Katy Unger and a point from Abby Storts eventually added up to MHS cutting the NLHS lead to 9-8.
Katelyn Highley eventually helped bring MHS to within two, as they trailed 13-11. Later in the first set, MHS had trouble scoring consecutive points but kept the score close … ending with three points in a row, including the 25th point of the set from Sydney Wycinski for the three-point win.
The Lady Tigers won set two by tying the score at 3-3 early on and overcame a seven-point deficit at 19-12. The Lady Tigers did that by rallying with six straight points, mostly off serves by Unger, and later trailed 21-20 with a point by Smith. MHS scored the final few points in the second set from Storts, Unger and Shonkwiler.
The third set was just as close as the first two, but at one point, MHS trailed 13-5 and 15-7. Then an ace by Smith and six straight points later by MHS, the score read 21-19, with MHS trailing by two.
MHS got as close as 24-22 before New Lexington's Maggie Bind ended the set to put her team up 2-1.
The fourth set was tied eight times as early as 1-1 and as late as 24-24.
The set looked as though MHS' season was close to coming to an end as they trailed 13-3, but MHS had the Lady Panthers right where they wanted them as aces from Smith and blocks by Unger eventually tied the score at 13-13 with MHS scoring 11 straight points for what was a 14-13 lead.
Eventually, the score was tied at 14, 16, 17 and 21. MHS tied the score at 24 with another ace by Smith and took a 25-24 lead with an out of play hit by New Lexington. The set-winning points (26-24) came off a serve by Smith.
"We've been working on our serving lately, and it showed," Gall said. "We've been giving away too many points, but not (Monday). The girls hustled, and this was a team win."
Next for McClain is a sectional match at Washington Senior High School against a South Central Ohio League foe in the Washington Lady Blue Lions (16-4) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Washington is the No. 1 seed in the North sectional bracket.