John Bruce, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
REEDSVILLE — After a 1-1 start to the season, Eastern Meigs has now rolled off 13 consecutive victories.
The Eagles’ latest victory came in a three-set sweep over Trimble, who was previously in a second place tie in the TVC-Hocking standings.
The first set was back-and-forth, but the feel in the gym switched with the set sitting at a 14-13 lead for Eastern (14-1, 7-0 TVC).
Emeri Lloyd sent a precise pass to Kinslie Well, allowing Well to set up fellow junior Braelyn Simpson for a monstrous kill to bring the serve back to the Eagles. Once the serve came back to Eastern, it never left.
Lloyd made sure to end all doubt on who would take the opener.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
She fired the ensuing serve off the tape for an ace, and Simpson followed the next with another kill, leading to a Tomcat timeout. After the break, Lloyd served three consecutive aces while Simpson added to the run with another kill. Lloyd then added yet another ace to give the Eagles a 22-13 lead.
After trading points, the set finished with yet another ace for Eastern, this one from freshman Kendra Robertson.
“[Lloyd] is always really aggressive with her serving,” Eastern head coach Courtney Whittington said of her sophomore libero. “Everyone seems to have a really hard time handling it. It helps us tremendously.”
Trimble (11-6, 4-3 TVC) clawed its way back into the second set with a combination of Bailey Tomlin and Brooklyn Burdette at the net, alongside excellent defensive play from Alyvia Portier, Bailee Bickley and Avangelene Richards. The defensive effort helped the Tomcats take a 19-17 lead late, before the Eagles took back over.
After a close miss down the line gave the Eagles back the serve, Simpson found the line to even the set at 19-19. Well then took advantage of her big hitters by dropping a kill in just past Trimble’s blockers, who had pulled to block.
PHOTOS: Images from Eastern Meigs’ win over Trimble
Makenzie Robertson placed her next serve perfectly on the back line for an ace to force a timeout from Trimble. After the break, she served short and into the middle of the Tomcats’ defense for another ace.
The teams traded points to get Lloyd back to the service line, leading to yet another ace for Eastern, which led to set point. Trimble won the next three points, highlighted by a tandem block from Richards and Tomlin, but Eastern took the set after a monster swing and kill from Simpson, one of her match-high 17 on the evening, for a 25-23 win.
“When [Simpson] gets going, she’s just unstoppable. She really is. But she works all the time and is always in tune with the game,” Whittington said of her junior outside hitter. “She’s always trying to keep the team going, she supports her teammates, and she’s really stepped up this year as a team captain. The seniors picked her as the only junior captain and she’s really shown her leadership this year.”
The third set would be very competitive early on with Trimble holding a 10-8 lead before the Eagles got a kill from Simpson and a pair of aces from Makenzie Robertson. A Brooklyn Barkey kill forced a timeout from the Tomcats as they tried to slow a 6-0 run.
But Barkey put down another kill after the break before Addy Atha added one of her own, helping push the Eagles to a comfortable advantage.
Eastern finished off the sweep with a pair of kills from Simpson and a big block from Atha and Barkey to put away the Tomcats.
Eight different Eagles contributed either solo or assisted blocks on the night, led by Barkey and Peyton Bailey, who had four each.
“We were trying to really work on our block tonight, “Whittington said of her team’s defensive effort. “We’ve been practicing a lot, putting in individual work, especially on the block. I think it really showed tonight. We got into a couple of holes, but we pulled ourselves out of it and were pretty consistent tonight.”
The Eagles sit at 14-1 on the season and have a two-game lead over Federal Hocking. Eastern will be back in action on Monday, hosting Fairland in non-league action.
“We’ve been goal-planning since last year and winning that district title meant a lot to our team,” Whittington said of the Eagles’ goals. “They have stayed consistent, they put their head down and pushed through and, that’s what we’re trying to do this season. We want to get back where we were, and then keep going. Our goals are right there in front of us. They just have to go take it.”
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