John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE — Playing in her final home game on Monday night, Miami Trace senior Lauren Farrens made sure her Panthers went out on a high note.
The veteran hitter hammered home 25 kills, including four consecutive in the closing moments of the match, powering Miami Trace to a four-set win over Athens in a Division III district first round match — a 25-11, 25-19, 15-25, 25-10 final.
“I have [teammate] Lauren Guess behind me constantly talking to me,” Farrens said. “She’s always like, ‘Line is open, cross is open or block is open.’ It really helps when I have a team like that surrounding me and I can just swing away.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Farrens and the Panthers sprinted out to a quick first set victory, winning 25-11 as she slammed home nine kills in the sequence.
FAC Player of the Year Kylie Yeazel was masterful in navigating the Panthers’ offensive attack. She found Farrens and Lauren Guess routinely in the attack as the aggressive service from the Panthers kept the Bulldogs out of system, giving Yeazel ample time to find her hitters.
“[MT’s hitters] make my job so much easier,” Yeazel said. “I know when a player is on and when to feed them. And I still have everyone else ready if I need to get the ball to them. I can spread the ball throughout the court so [the opponent] isn’t just focused on one player.”
Following the dominant opening set win, Athens was able to regroup. Mabel Monday started to get going at the net for the Bulldogs but, still, the combination of Farrens and Guess helped Miami Trace stave off Athens, despite seven different ties in the first 16 serves of the second.
Aces from Allison Carter and Keionnie Ackley pushed the Panthers’ lead to 16-11, leading to a Bulldog timeout.
After the brief break, Liza Hartman and the Bulldogs again regrouped, scoring four consecutive points to cut the deficit to 16-15, topped off by a solo block from Monday.
On the ensuing serve, Yeazel was able to find Briana Robinette with a back set, where the sophomore hammered the ball down the line to pull the momentum back to the Panthers’ bench. A kill from Guess and an ace from Farrens in the next two serves all but guaranteed the victory for the Panthers as they took a 2-0 lead with a 25-19 win.
The third set started similar to how the match began — with Farrens finding any piece of open floor on the Bulldogs’ side to help the Panthers seize a 10-6 lead.
A rare error from the Panthers then opened the door for Athens, allowing the Bulldogs to get rolling for the first time in the match. Service from Hartman, Sofia Smith and Grace Inboden kept the Panthers out of system, giving Monday and Ava Meili the chance to get going as the Bulldogs won 19 of the last 24 points of the set, earning a 25-15 win to stay in the match.
“The first and second set, obviously, Lauren [Guess] and I were just killing it down the line,” Farrens said. “By the end of that, they were picking up on that and they rotated their defense. So going into the third set, we kind of let them get us on that. So coach [Doug Mace] came over to us and told us we had to start going cross. So we went into the fourth set with that in the back of our minds.”
That’s all the motivation that Miami Trace needed as it cruised in the fourth.
The Panthers left no doubt, pulling away in a breezy 25-10 win and securing a trip to the next round.
The fourth-set victory was led by multiple aces from Carter and a showcase for Farrens, who completely took the game over late before a hitting error from the Bulldogs put the match away.
“Starting out with a good serve is so key,” Yeazel said. “If [the opponent] can get a pass on target, then they’re in system. That’s not good for our defense. So getting them out of their system so we have a free ball to work with, that’s so important.”
While Athens’ season comes to a close, Miami Trace advances to a Division III district quarterfinal at 7 p.m., Thursday at Unioto.
“It’s a great feeling,” Farrens said. “All season, we’ve looked forward to the tournament. It’s sometimes hard to come into big games like this. We were lucky enough to play Marietta and River View this year, which are two top-tier teams. They’re both very technical. It gave us some stuff to work on coming into this game.”
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