Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
CHILLICOTHE — It’s the one thing Chillicothe’s seniors had never done.
Going into Saturday’s matchup, the Cavaliers’ senior class (2-3) had faced Unioto four times and all four times, they walked away with a heart-breaking loss.
They had one final chance on Saturday and, through plenty of ups and downs, they got it done.
Battling to five sets, the Cavs had a little more in their gas tank down the stretch to notch a huge victory by a 13-25, 25-13, 25-23, 14-25, 15-12 final over the crosstown rival Shermans.
“These girls are incredibly special and this is all about them. They work so well together, trust each other and love one another,” Chillicothe coach Lesile Hamman said. “We had two middles who had never played varsity before step into huge spots, and they stepped up to the plate. I talked to the girls before the game about staying confident within themselves, since I knew there were going to be some nerves. I believed in them, I knew they could do it and they did it.”
It marks the Cavaliers’ first victory over Unioto (2-2) since 2021.
“First and foremost, all glory goes to God. We could not have done that without him. We prioritize Him and pray before every game,” Chillicothe’s Evelyn Hamman said. “Us as seniors, we’ve lost to Unioto every time we’ve played them so to finally get a win means so much. It was truly a team effort and everyone gave everything they had. It’s so much fun to see your teammates succeed, and this is just an awesome moment.”
Unioto was in firm control throughout the first set. Leading 6-5, Charlotte Dennis came up with a kill and block while Emma Spetnagel served up an ace to push the advantage to 10-5.
The lead remained at four or five points, reaching 16-12, until the Shermans kicked it into high gear behind Dennis, Abigail Watson and Keltee Kepler to end on a 9-1 run and close out the first-set win.
Chillicothe flipped the script in the second, jumping ahead to a 10-4 lead behind kills from Hamman and an ace from Isabella Witte.
Sydnee Wade notched a pair of kills, which helped push the lead to double digits at 15-5, and the Cavs didn’t look back from that point to even the match at 1-1.
Things were airtight throughout the third set. No lead was greater than two points until the Shermans committed a net violation, followed by an ace from Josie Huddleston to put the Cavs ahead 17-13.
Unioto managed to force a tie at 17-17, but a block and kill from Hamman pushed the lead back to three points. Later, at 23-21 in the Cavs’ favor following a service error, Dennis put down a kill followed by a Cavalier hitting error to tie the game at 23-23.
However, Unioto committed back-to-back hitting errors to score the closing points, putting Chillicothe ahead 2-1.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
“I think the first set was us getting the nerves out and adjusting to our new lineup,” Leslie Hamman said. “We’re only five games into the season and we’re on our third lineup change due to injuries. Those are things we thought we had worked out this summer, but things happen and you adjust as you go. When you’re playing these long matches, you’re trying to figure out when to rotate and get players a break. So it takes a little time to find a rhythm, but we did eventually.”
“The difference between a loud gym and a quiet one is really crazy, but I think the noise level only made us want to play harder,” Chillicothe’s Isabella Witte said. “Our defense was on fire tonight. We’ve really been practicing hard on that side of the ball with two of our biggest blockers going down. Once we figured out where they were tipping, where we needed to be and how much time we had to get to that spot, that was the game-changer.”
Chillicothe had its foot on the gas early in the fourth. After being tied 5-5, the Cavaliers put together a quick 4-0 burst — all behind kills from Hamman to go ahead 9-5.
The lead later went to 12-9, but that’s when Unioto began to find a sense of urgency.
Watson came up with a kill, Kori Grubbs added another, Chillicothe made hitting errors and Kara Spetnagel added an ace to cap a 10-1 run, putting the Shermans ahead 19-13 before they closed out a 16-2 spree to send the game to a deciding fifth set.
Tied 4-4 in the fifth, the Cavs took four of the next five points, featuring an ace from Hamman and kills from Emma Whalen and Kendal Stoneking, going ahead 8-5.
Kills from Stoneking and Wade later pushed the lead to 10-7, but Unioto answered with kills from Dennis and Kaylee Sever, alongside a block from Libby Anderson, to pull ahead at 11-10.
But the night, ultimately, belonged to Chillicothe as a kill from Kiera Blankenship and three more from Hamman put the game on ice to seal the victory.
“Everyone knew and believed we could win that fifth set,” Hamman said. “We all trusted one another, had confidence in each other and cleaned up what we needed to from the fourth set. Also, Kiera and Emma played so huge and were thrown into intense positions as middle blockers and they did such a great job.”
Statistically, Hamman led Chillicothe with 26 kills alongside three blocks, two aces and 10 digs. Campbell McAllister had a team-high 25 digs, Stoneking tallied seven kills, and Witte finished with 11 digs and 30 assists.
Unioto was led by Grubbs, who had 16 kills and nine digs while Kinzli Batson finished with 37 assists — including her 1,000th helper — and 16 digs. Dennis finished with 13 kills, Kiley Puckett had a team-high 27 digs, and Anderson totaled seven kills and nine digs.
Chillicothe returns to action on Tuesday against Washington to open FAC action, while Unioto hosts Adena to open SVC action.
“I think more than anything, we proved something to ourselves tonight and we know that we can do some great things this year,” Chillicothe’s Bradyn Smith said. “Our bench energy was incredible, and when you have that type of energy, it only makes things better. We all have confidence in ourselves and one another, which will carry us really far.”
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