John Bruce, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
LUCASVILLE — Monday night’s final may have resulted in a sweep, but it was anything but easy for Valley.
The Indians (13-0) battled through three hard-fought sets before handing Notre Dame a 25-23, 25-16, 26-24 loss.
After falling in the opening two sets, the Titans (10-2) played inspired in the third, leading throughout and even playing to four separate set points. But after taking a 24-20 lead, Valley stormed back to win the final six points and earn the sweep with a two-point victory.
“We had trust in our teammates and in our mindset that we can do this,” Valley senior captain Kendyl Christman said, after the dramatic third set comeback. “We had the mindset of, ‘We’re not getting a set taken away from us.’ We haven’t all year and wasn’t going to be today.”
“We just needed to get our energy back and let Laylee [McGraw] serve those balls and have trust in her to serve them over,” Valley junior Peyton Hunter added. “Just put in the work and get it back over.”
In the final comeback, McGraw’s service kept the Titans out of system, allowing for a more structured attack for the Indians.
With senior setter Katelyn Queen having options like Christman and Mya Williams at her discretion, Valley’s late run showed exactly why they have gone unbeaten through their first 12 matches — and also in every set they’ve played.
Christman put a kill down the line to cut the lead to two, before Williams took a swing to cut it to one.
With Notre Dame having to address both hitters, Queen had her choice to try and tie the set and she chose wisely. Queen pushed her set to Christman on the outside for a big swing to tie things up at 24-24 and then, of course, Williams put the Indians ahead for good, following a timeout.
“We’ve played for over six years now together,” Christman said of her chemistry with Queen. “She was amazing tonight and I knew wherever I wanted the ball, she was putting it there. I knew wherever I wanted it, she would give it to me.”
While the final set comeback was very much influenced by Christman, Queen and Williams, it was Valley’s defense that allowed it to jump out to the early advantage. Hunter, E.J. Vice and Zoe Wolfe were impactful at the net, with Hunter also seemingly having her best game in the attack as well, playing well above the net.
“It’s a lot more fun to block it than to get balls blocked, obviously,” Harris said after her big night at the net. “You just have to focus on your timing and once you get one, you feel like you can keep blocking them.”
Christman, McGraw, Wolfe and Chole Harris were all over the back line in case of a deflection, limiting Notre Dame’s chances on the attack.
The opening set saw a lot of back-and-forth action with Valley taking it at 25-23.
But after nine ties, the Indians finally did enough to separate themselves down the stretch. It felt like a pair of kills from Vice would do so to help push the lead to 19-16, but Notre Dame’s Sophia Phillips got hot, and an ace from Tinleigh Coriell tied the set at 20-20.
Valley, however, was able to get the ball to Queen and let the setter work her magic to close things out.
Queen passed out a pair of assists to Christman and Hunter before Wolfe finished things off with a kill of her own to give the Indians an early advantage.
The second set was a dominant performance from the Indians while Christman and Howard took control early and rode the big swings to a 2-0 match advantage.
To the Titans’ credit, they were able to grab an early lead in that third set behind Phillips, Jaysa Bryant and the libero play of Bella Rush. Phillips logged four kills and a block as the Titans jumped out to a 5-3 lead.
Bryant’s ability at the net elevated the Titans to a 20-16 advantage and, after a service error from Valley, Notre Dame was sitting at set point with a 24-20 lead before the Indians’ final ambush.
“I think that it’s great to play with [Coach Nikki Crotty]. She trusts us,” Howard said of her coach. “And we trust ourselves if we’re down to get it back up. We know to have our energy high and that we just need a good pass and everything else works out.”
Statistically, Phillips led ND with 15 kills, three aces and eight digs while Bryant added 13 kills. Rush led the team’s defense with 17 digs.
Christman led the Indians with 13 kills, Hunter had 11 kills and six blocks, and Williams posted 10 kills and six blocks of her own. Queen finished with 39 assists and nine digs.
Valley continued to roll on Tuesday with a straight-set win over Portsmouth West. Meanwhile, Notre Dame got back in the win column with a sweep of Green. The Indians are back in action on Thursday, hosting South Webster, while the Titans host East that same evening.
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