John Bruce, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
GALLIPOLIS — After winning its first 24 matches of the 2025 season, Gallia Academy fell in a district championship game last fall.
To ensure that wouldn’t be their stopping point again in 2026, the Blue Angels ramped up the difficulty of their non-conference schedule, starting with Saturday’s tilt against the visiting Unioto Shermans.
And if Saturday is a sign of things to come, don’t look for these Blue Angels (2-0) to be done playing until November.
GA swept Unioto in three sets — by a 25-12, 25-18, 25-16 final — displaying the overall talent, depth and cohesiveness that a squad needs to make a deep tournament run.
The opening set saw an introduction to one of the most highly anticipated athletes to come through Southeast Ohio in quite some time.
Freshman Piper Pugh made an immediate impact as an outside hitter, routinely skying above the net to hammer down passes from senior setter Gracyn Clark, including a cross-court kill that even raised the eyebrows of the visiting supporters.
While Pugh was impactful early, it is important to note that Gallia Academy did not graduate a single player from that 24-1 district runner-up team from a season ago. Adding Pugh to the group of Gracyn Clark, Abby Clark, Aubree Frazier, Mallory Petro, Chloe Bennett and, of course, sophomore sensation Aspen Barnes, was just going to give the Blue Angels even more firepower.
“I think that our team represents a family,” Gallia Academy head coach Ashton Webb said. “I feel when they go through the mud together, that they’re in it together. We have complete confidence in every single one of them if we needed them to step in.”
The Blue Angels dominated the opening set to the tune of 25-12, but Unioto (0-1) got off to a much better start in the second, following a couple of uncharacteristic GA errors before a Charlotte Dennis kill gave the Shermans their largest lead of the day at 5-2.
Even though Gallia trailed for the first time, the experienced Blue Angels showed their ability to make major runs, storming out to a 14-7 lead after winning 12 of 14 points — led by Pugh at the net, Bennett defensively and Petro at the service line.
PHOTOS: Images from Gallia Academy’s win over Unioto
Petro’s service kept the Shermans out of system, giving Gracyn Clark her choice of where to attack after receiving the pass. Once she had that choice, she found Pugh, Abby Clark and Barnes to extend the lead and put Unioto on its heels.
“I think we have the best defensive specialists around,” Gracyn Clark said of her backline. “I can always trust that they are going to get the ball to me every time and, if they don’t, I know they’ll get the next ball.”
The Shermans responded well, eventually cutting the deficit to 21-17 on an outstanding defensive play from Kinzli Batson. But a kill from Abby Clark in the middle gave the Blue Angels a 25-18 second set win for a 2-0 match lead.
GA leapt out to an 8-2 lead in the third with Barnes, Pugh and Rylee Saunders dominating at the net. As if the lead wasn’t already large enough, junior Ari Rice put on a service display midway through, scoring aces on four out of five serves to give the Blue Angels an insurmountable 17-6 lead.
To Unioto’s credit, the Shermans chipped away and kept competing. Sophomore Kori Grubbs got going in the third, but the Blue Angels put the match away with a kill from Saunders to complete the sweep at 25-16.
Statistically, Barnes and Pugh combined for 31 kills for the Blue Angels, with Pugh scoring a game-high 18. Gracyn Clark passed out 36 assists, while Abby Clark had seven kills in her 14 swings from the middle.
Grubbs led Unioto with seven kills and Batson delivered 14 assists for the Shermans.
“I think our upperclassmen have really taken Piper and Aspen under their wing,” Webb said of her young outside hitters. “They could have came in and been shy, and pushed out of their comfort zone. But the upperclassmen have been able to help them navigate through those situations.”
Gallia Academy travels to Ironton on Tuesday night before hosting Bloom-Carroll on Thursday in a major non-conference matchup. Meanwhiel, Unioto is back in action on Monday at South Webster.
“That was a huge push for us this year to make sure that our non-conference schedule was super tough,” Webb said of the Blue Angels schedule. “I feel like it is going to prepare us. A team like Unioto, who is tough and plays hard. That’s what we need to see, we need to see kids that are going to push us in the regular season.”
SPONSORS
ATOMIC CREDIT UNION
THE ROOT SPORTS & FITNESS CENTER
