Brock Netter, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LUCASVILLE — Unpredictable. That’s what makes Southeastern dangerous.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
This Panther team is Jekell and Hyde, but when they are on like they were on Tuesday, they can take down anybody.
They made perfect adjustments defensively, remained one solid unit and hit the ball with confidence, which led to a straight-set victory over Alexander 25-23, 25-16 and 25-16 in a Division II district semifinal.
The win marks the first district final appearance for the Panthers since 2019.
“The girls did a really great job of taking our scouting report and sticking with it until the end,” Southeastern coach Lori Koker said. “They really found some open spots offensively, and even though there were times it was tough to handle [Alexander’s Lexi Grissett] at times, we got some really good digs on her and capitalized on them.”
Grissett was a load to handle, but Southeastern’s trio of Jozy Lougheed, Morgan Ware and Macy Corcoran routinely gave the Spartans’ defense fits all night.
Whether swinging for power, tipping or playing a finesse ball over the hit, everything continued to hit the ground as they all took turns toying with the Spratans.
“It took some time to get used to a new atmosphere, new gym, new everything, even though the game itself is still the same,” Koker said. “The nerves have to get out of you a little bit and that’s when we finally settled in and just played how we can.”
The first set was nothing short of a tie fest. There were ties at 6-6, 8-8 and 9-9 before the Panthers scored five of the next seven points behind Lougheed and Ware to go ahead 14-11.
The Spartans countered with four straight, led by Grissett to take a 15-14 lead and then more ties racked up. Tied from 15-22, something had to give and it was the Spartans who blinked first.
Lougheed had a kill, Alexander made an error and Ware ended the set with a kill to take the first set.
More ties opened up the second before the Panthers managed to rattle off three straight points to take a 14-11 lead.
That was the point at where they kicked things into another gear, on both sides of the ball.
Corcoran, Lougheed, Gracee Pfiefer and Jessie Higley all were instrumental defensively in preventing Grissett and company from finding open spaces.
“Gracee is used to playing a little more inside the court, but once she found the adjustment to stay outside a little more, that made a huge difference in slowing down Alexander,” Koker said. “That helped us find our groove as well to take advantage of our chances.”
Meanwhile, Ware, Lougheed and Corcoran maintained their pace on the offensive end with one kill after another to extend the lead to 22-15 before closing out.
Alexander came out firing early, but couldn’t get out of its own way and quickly fell behind 8-5 in the third, following an ace from Lougheed.
Although it managed to later tie the set at 10-10, it ran completely out of gas.
Ware, Lougheed, Pfiefer and company shot out on a 13-2 run to swing all momentum towards their side before Lougheed and Braylee Rebman each had a kill to put the game on ice.
“Our digging was incredible and we made some great plays off some offspeed things,” Koker said. “Chloe [Wills] did a great job of mixing up her passes and Jozy did as well at times. It really caught Alexander off guard and that’s when Macy was able to make some plays. Every position is very important and every girl understood what they were doing.”
Southeastern advances to a Division III district final where it’ll get Wheelersburg, who defeated Northwest in straight sets to move on.
That match will happen at 11 a.m., Saturday at Waverly High School.
“It just comes down to doing what we do and playing our game,” Koker said. “Burg is a good team and a good program, no doubt about that. But we’re not going to get caught up in who is seeded at what. We’ll work on our strength and hopefully it’ll be a fun ballgame.”
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