Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
HILLSBORO — Hillsboro pushing the game to a fourth set on Monday ultimately worked out in Taryn Gillott’s favor.
The junior setter was 18 assists away from notching the 1,000th of her career, and she was able to reach that milestone midway through the set.
“I really grateful for this accomplishment,” Gillott said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches. [Waverly] Coach [Rikki] Hinshaw has really helped me a lot with my game and I’m just super happy to have gotten it.”
The Tigers (4-1) ultimately finished the job, too, ousting the Indians by a 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18 final and handing them their first loss of the season.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
“I thought the girls battled really well. It’s always different playing on a Monday after a day of not having practice, so there’s always a little worry that we’re not as focused,” Hinshaw said. “We started off a little slow and had some issues with our serve-receive, but managed to get that fixed. I’m super proud of them, it’s great to start off the week with a win.”
After some back-and-forth action to open the first set, Hillsboro’s Tylee Davis notched a kill and Riley Pence got a block before Davis ripped an ace to give the Indians (5-1) a 12-9 lead.
The Indians’ lead reached 15-9 and, later, 20-15 after kills from Emmalee Young and Marianne Mycroft. But they weren’t out of the weeds just yet.
They were called for several violations and made two service errors, ultimately bringing the game to a 22-22 tie. Waverly’s Hadley Ramsey served an ace, Calli Knight powered down a kill and a Hillsboro hitting error closed out the first-set win for the Tigers.
“Having to make a decent comeback really shifted our energy since we were a little down on ourselves,” Waverly’s Emma Nesser said. “It’s a gamechanging thing for us since we have a bad tendency to get down on ourselves at times. So it was great to do so and play with such great energy.”
Realizing how tough and scrappy Hillsboro was in the first set, Waverly couldn’t risk a slow start to the second.
PHOTOS: Images from Waverly’s win over Hillsboro
The Tigers quickly took a 4-1 lead that later swelled to 10-5, following a kill and back-to-back aces from Knight. Hillsboro continued to hang around, cutting the deficit to 12-9 after an ace from Ryan Wagoner.
The Indians would get as close as 15-13 but, between kills from Knight, Abby Schrader and Emma Nesser, the Tigers had enough firepower to cross the finish line to take a 2-0 match lead.
“This is the first time in a while that we really have to spread the ball out. There are a lot of girls whose names may have been recognized before, but you’re getting the chance to see them in our offense,” Hinshaw said. “It helps to have more than two girls on per night. We’re getting to a point where there’s three to four girls on a night and that only makes us a better team.”
The third was a game of ties.
It was tied at 3-3 and 4-4 until Knight smacked a kill and served an ace to put Waverly ahead 6-4. Later knotted at 8-8, Wagoner served up a pair of aces to put Hillsboro ahead 10-8.
From that point, deadlocks at 11-11, all the way to 19-19, took center stage. That is, until Young mashed a kill to give the Indians the lead. From there, Young, Davis and pence all had a kill while Young added a block and a set-ending ace to push the match to a fourth set.
The Indians got Waverly’s attention, and the Tigers were off to the races in the fourth.
They quickly jumped ahead to a 5-1 lead with a block from Schrader and an ace from Ramsay. The lead continued to grow, reaching a point of 16-8, following back-to-back kills from Gillott.
On the next point, Gillott fed Knight on the outside and when the ball hit the floor, it gave her the milestone moment before Waverly closed out for the win.
“Losing three seniors from last year meant that a lot of players were going to step into new roles this year. But it’s worked out really well,” Gillott said. “We’re a super close team off the court, so that only makes our chemistry on the court that much better.”
Waverly defeated Eastern on Tuesday in straight sets, and returns to action on Saturday at Piketon. Hillsboro swept Jackson to open FAC play on Tuesday, and faces Miami Trace on Thursday.
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