John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
PIKETON — With a dominating sweep over a high-level Fairfield team, Zane Trace has given itself a chance to exorcise some demons on Saturday afternoon.
CREDIT: Cory Hall/SOSA
After beating Fairfield in straight sets by a 25-20, 25-11, 25-14 final, the Pioneers (19-4) have reached their fifth consecutive district championship game, where they will meet Scioto Valley Conference rival Adena.
Zane Trace has lost in the district final round in each of the past four seasons and were swept by the Warriors this year, giving them two big hurdles they can clear in one fell swoop this weekend.
On Tuesday, the Pioneers got out to a fast start in large part to mistakes made by the Lions.
In a 6-0 run to begin things, five of those points were due to errors from the Lions before a timeout could be called to settle them down. It would not be until a Peyton Magee kill that the Lions gained a sliver of momentum and some calm amongst their team.
Fairfield (19-5) slowly got itself back into the contest with big kills from Haley Shoemaker and Jobey Hatten, eventually cutting the lead to 17-15 on an ace from Faith Miller.
But the Pioneers were able to regain momentum with back-to-back kills from SVC Player of the Year Lexi Scott and junior Mykah Hettinger. With outstanding defense from Gracey McCullough and Reagan Hill, ZT got back into its system and scored a close 25-20 first set victory on a kill from Hettinger.
PHOTOS: Images from Zane Trace’s win over Fairfield
After Magee opened the second set with a kill, the Pioneers took over and ran away with a 25-11 set win.
Within that sequence, senior Alexis Farley and Hettinger dominated the action at the net, forcing multiple errors by the Lions, before piling up the kills for themselves.
Hettinger once again finished off the set with a kill to put the Pioneers one set closer to a sweep.
“Once I start getting a couple [of kills], that’s when I start picking up more and more,” Hettinger said. “It’s especially because I always see Kinley [May]. She’s the only one I can see immediately and her face just lights up. Her eyes light up.”
One of the key factors for Zane Trace’s attack throughout the evening, and the season for the matter, has been the ball-handling ability of their setters, Delaney Berry and Kinley May. Berry and May helped set up the attack for Farley, Hettinger and Scott in the third set, including assisting each of them on a kill for the game’s final three points.
To close out the sweet and the 25-14 final set, Hettinger slammed the door shut on the Lions with a mammoth spike to end the night’s action.
“We were all really positive the entire way here,” Farley said. “We finally got together in that second set and got that energy back.”
Scott led the Pioneers with 13 kills while Hettinger had 12, and Farley added 11. May led the Pioneers with 22 assists, while Berry had 16 of her own.
In the two’s previous meetings, Adena beat Zane Trace in four sets in both games, but the Pioneers will be prepared to do what it takes to pull off the upset.
“We have to tighten up on our serve receive for sure and we’ve been working on that since the beginning of the season,” Farley said. “We also have to cover that middle and keep our energy up.”
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