John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LOGAN – 43 kills.
In a word, Katie Burns was legendary on Thursday night at Logan High School — and that number should tell you exactly why.
Her 43 kills set the program’s single-game record. She’ll enter the OHSAA record books as well with that number being tied for the eight-most in a single game in state history.
Burns’ historic night pushed her Warriors past Belmont Union Local in a Division V regional semifinal by a 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 25-16 final.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
However, if not for an all-around outstanding team-wide effort, those kills may have all been for naught.
“[Adena’s setters] know where [Burns] needs it and she’s good at telling them where she needs it,” Adena coach Laura Smith said. “The back row is good at telling her how many blockers are there and we talk about where she needs to take it if there is too much of a block. Sometimes, she just needs to hammer away since she gets so high.”
The Warriors (25-1) jumped out to an early lead with a mix of Burns and elite defensive efforts from Jacey Smith and Kimmy Dalton.
Union Local (19-7) had its own dynamic duo of hitters in Ameera Saunders and Laken Vinskovich, which made life a bit more difficult on the Warriors’ defense.
But their back row was up to the task.
On a singular point, that Union Local actually ended up winning, the Warriors fought off six different swings from the Jets, making it seem as though there were 10 players on the court.
Following that point, Adena won five of the next six points to grab a temporary advantage over the Jets.
“We depend on them to keep balls alive,” Smith said. “I told them at the beginning of the season that we need to play awesome defense. We just keep it in play until we get our moment.”
Throughout the opening set, every time the Warriors looked to put some distance between themselves and the Jets, Saunders would come up with a big swing to keep the Jets tight.
With 10 ties in the opener, Adena needed to stay on schedule.
And, despite a late explosion from Saunders and Vinskovich to give the Jets a pair of late leads, Adena’s elite defense kept them alive long enough to get Burns back to the front row, where her big swing, with the set tied at 24-24, gave the Warriors a late lead.
Union Local then responded with an attacking error, which gave Adena a 1-0 match lead.
Even though Burns completely dominated the second set with 13 kills, the Warriors still used their depth to build and extend their lead for a comfortable win.
With kills from Jacey Jones and Smith, the Warriors kept the Jets at a distance as Burns went to the back row. The Warriors closed out the set with a kill from Peytyn Lemaster to push the Warriors to within a win of another Elite 8 appearance.
“Jones has come a long way since the beginning of the season, mostly with her confidence. She could always do it. She just wasn’t comfortable in the role then,” Smith said. “Peytyn is picking it up, too. We have a good group of sophomores.”
Union Local finally gained a lead larger than a point in the third as setter Delaney Butler carefully located Saunders and Vinskovich to steer the Jets to a three-point advantage.
With both big hitters being locked in, the Jets withstood an onslaught from Burns, who added another 11 kills in the game. Union Local finally won the set after consecutive kills from Saunders and an ace from Myah Martin to force a fourth game.
After an initial outburst from Saunders to open the fourth, giving the Jets an early 4-1 lead over Adena, the Warriors absolutely locked in to make an extended run.
Setters Allie Bossert and Kortney Sowers did what they did best, finding Burns and Jones in the perfect position on their attacks, while Adyson Wisecup kept her all-around game going as well.
Add in the athletic defense of Dalton and Smith and it provided the Warriors with the cushion they needed to put pressure on the Jets with their season on the line.
Burns continued her excellence in the middle of the set as the lead only grew. An ace from Dalton gave the Warriors a 17-11 lead and from there, the teams mostly traded points before a swing from Jones put the Warriors a single point away from their 25th win of the season.
On the match’s final point, a hitting error from the Jets put the Warriors over the top to earn another ticket to the Elite 8.
Burns finished the match with a Scioto Valley Conference record of 43 kills, breaking the previous high mark of 41, held byHuntington’s Jackie Stauffer.
The Warriors will now advance to a Division V regional championship match at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Logan. They’ll meet with New Lexington, a four-set winner over Wheelersburg on Thursday.
“I just want them to get out there and play,” Smith said. “And not give up and keep pushing. We’ve been in lots of situations like this, where you never know what’s going to happen. And you have to keep pushing and not let yourself get deflated over a mistake, or if the score is getting too far out of hand. You have to hang in there and keep playing.”
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