Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
OAK HILL — Oak Hill’s seniors have never beaten Minford before.
That is, until Tuesday night. And, once the final point had been scored, the smiles those seniors flashed said all that needed to be said.
Despite the demons of past Oak Hill teams potentially coming to surface, the Oaks dug deep and kept those skeletons buried, nailing down a four-set victory — 25-20, 25-15, 20-25, 25-22 —over the Falcons in front of a home crowd.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
“We can finally say that we beat Minford, which has never happened in our high school careers before,” Oak Hill’s Alyssa Whitt said. “We’ve gone to five sets, but never won until now. I think this win shows us that we have the mentality, skill and competitiveness to be a great team and it sets a standard for the rest of the season.”
Out of the gates, both teams stayed right with one another as no lead was greater than two points, all the way to 11-11.
Then Emma Figgins, Makayla Davidson and Elizabeth Wolford all registered kills to give the Oaks (2-1) momentum, alongside an 18-14 advantage.
Minford (3-1), however, had an answer as Taylor Cron served an ace, alongside kills from Aleena Hale and Brenna Tuttle for a 6-1 run, putting the Falcons up 20-19.
However, errors began to mount up for the Falcons, which allowed the Oaks to shift the tide. Whitt eventually notched a kill to give her team a first-set victory.
Tied at 8-8 in the second, the errors again started to pile up on Minford’s side. It spelled out a 5-0 Oak Hill run to make it 13-8.
From that point on, it was all Oaks.
Kills from Figgins and Davidson powered the team’s offense and Minford simply had no answer as to how to stop the bleeding.
PHOTOS: Images from Oak Hill’s win over Minford
Eventually, the Falcons found themselves in a 2-0 hole.
“Our blocks were on point and it took some time, but we figured out where they wanted to hit the ball,” Figgins said. “We adjusted what we needed to and found ourselves in the right spots. Our passes were on point, our defense was in sync and we had the momentum.”
Yet, Minford wasn’t going away quietly.
The Falcons came out with energy and a determination to push the game to a fourth set. Hale served up a pair of aces before Cron served one herself, giving the Falcons an 11-9 advantage.
They continued to apply the pressure and built an 18-12 lead, behind Hale and Kerigan Davis. The Oaks hung around and strung together a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 18-17.
Ultimately, though, the Falcons had more gas in the tank and took advantage of some defensive miscues, taking the third set and extending the match.
“We let off the gas a little bit and got tired in the third, which can’t happen against good teams like Minford who have a couple really good hitters,” Oak Hill coach Zack Kisor said. “We were being reactive in the third set and they put us on our heels. We sent too many free balls over and they took advantage of it.”
Scrappiness was the name of the game in the fourth.
Neither team was budging an inch, and no advantage was greater than three points throughout much of the set. Seven ties and a handful of lead changes took center court before Figgins powered back-to-back kills for a 19-17 Oak lead.
Sensing victory was in their grasp, the Oaks put the pedal to the metal behind Figgins, Whitt, Olivia McKenzie and Bailee Lahrmer to secure the final point and the victory.
“We definitely showed a lot of grit and growth in the fourth set. One thing we really talked about in the huddle was cleaning up our defensive mistakes and running our offense,” Kisor said. “It was a bloodbath throughout the whole set, but I’m proud of these girls for how they stepped up. This is a big win for us and gives us a lot of confidence into our next few games to pull out some more wins.”
Oak Hill took a straight-set loss on Wednesday to South Webster, and returns to action on Thursday at East for non-divisional SOC action. Meanwhile, Minford aims to rebound on Tuesday, hosting Eastern.
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