Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
JACKSON — One thing that Jackson acknowledges this season is that it’s going through a bit of a rebuild.
A program reset, for lack of better words.
However, that doesn’t mean the Ironladies don’t have goals they want to achieve. Monday was the start of checking things off the list.
Jackson (1-0) was in control all night and, despite facing some adversity in the second and third sets, the Ironladies found a way to overcome it for a season-opening sweep of Paint Valley — a 25-14, 25-15, 25-20 final.
“It’s always exciting to start the season off with a win, so that’s exciting and gives us some early confidence,” Jackson coach Mallory Huff said. “The girls have really been working on team chemistry, playing together as one and bringing the energy, which I thought they did a really good job of doing tonight. It was great to see them finish all three sets and do so on their terms.”
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Paint Valley (0-1) had its struggles with a number of hitting errors and it allowed Jackson to take advantage from the service line.
The Ironladies kept finding open spots on the floor, earning free points as they racked up 14 aces on the evening.
“There were some situations where we had some out-of-system balls come our way, and the girls did a great job of using it to their advantage,” Huff said. “They were making every free ball opportunity count and that momentum continued at the service line where they saw the floor really well and hit their spots.”
Out of the gates, Jackson’s Lakyn Saunders ripped back-to-back aces to quickly set the tone with a 4-0 lead. Brynlee Smalley logged a kill to make it 7-3 and later, Daycee Howard notched a kill of her own to push the lead to 12-6.
From that point on, Jackson continued to stretch the lead into double digits at 21-11, off an ace from Howard before closing out the set for the win.
An ace from Camryn Gillum, later followed by a block from Preslee Leach and a kill from Taylor Sites, put the Ironladies up 6-3 in the second. The lead swelled to 9-4, but the Bearcats countered with a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to 9-8.
However, Jackson swiftly answered behind Howard, who had a pair of kills. Two aces from Downard helped power a 10-1 run to bust the game wide open at 19-9 before the Ironladies cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match.
“Paint Valley has some really scrappy players and they made it really tough on us,” Huff said. “They got the ball up a lot of times and put some pressure on. We still had some moments where we needed to be a little bit more disciplined, but the girls did a good job of regathering themselves and playing their game.”
With all momentum firmly on the Ironladies’ side, they went back to work and built an 18-11 lead in the third.
Despite being seven points away from the win, Paint Valley still had some fight left.
Behind kills from Mayah Collier and Caysin Smith, the Bearcats clawed their way back into the game with an 8-2 run, cutting Jackson’s lead to 20-19.
Ultimately though, the Bearcats couldn’t get over the hump as Howard powered down a kill before Downard ripped an ace to end the set and secure the Ironladies’ victory.
“I called timeout and the first thing I said was, ‘We have to refocus,’” Huff said. “We needed to come out of serve receive much faster than we were. I think we got too comfortable and lost our discipline when it came to seeing the play all the way through, instead of assuming we won the point. But we got it together to close out and you can’t ask for more than to start the season with a win.”
Both teams were in action on Tuesday. Jackson suffered a straight-set loss to Southeastern, while Paint Valley dropped a contest to Peebles.
The Ironladies return to action on Thursday at home against South Webster, while Paint Valley plays at Fairfield on Monday.
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