SETTING IT — Buckeye Local’s Sammi Westfall sets against Indian Creek during Tuesday’s match. - Andrew Grimm

Indian Creek was able to do that Tuesday night, while finishing is something Buckeye Local is working on early in the season.

The results was Indian Creek coming away with a more competitive than the score may show sweep of the Panthers in their home opener on Coach D Court.

“We started off a little slow, we’re still finding our groove a little bit,” Indian Creek head coach Crystal Hammack said. “We had a tough one on the road against a really good Buckeye Trail team (Monday), so we were hoping to do better in our home opener and the kids really responded.

“We still have a lot of work to do but we’re moving in the right direction. The home opener is always an exciting night, especially for the seniors.”

SERVING IT UP — Indian Creek’s Cara Vandeborne serves against Buckeye Local during Thursday’s match on Coach D Court. - Andrew Grimm

Creek (1-1) closed strong in all three sets, fending off rallies from the visitors in the first and second sets by scoring the final four-straight in the opener and five-straight points in the second set to take a 2-0 lead in match.

In the third set, they showed the killer instinct with a 10-0 run to take control, before scoring the final three in a row to close out a 25-18, 25-20, 25-14 victory.

“It was nice to play a local team like Buckeye, the girls were talking through the net, a lot of them play together in the off season and the coaches know each other,” Hammack said. “They have some good players and a nice team.”

For the Panthers (0-2), who now get a few days of practice after dropping matches on back-to-back nights, finding a way to close strong will be a point of emphasis going forward.

“We struggle with that and we’re going to work on it,” Panthers head coach Abbey Wilson said. “Indian Creek is a good team, they have really big middles and they’re strong, they can put the ball where they want and made it hard for us to defend.

“We held our own with them, we just need to learn how to finish.”

Creek was led by 11 kills, four blocks and three aces from Cara Vandeborne, 10 assists and an ace from Meghan Paoloemilio, four kills and three blocks from Emma Westfall and 14 assists and an ace from Gabby Taylor.

Leading Buckeye Local were Brooke Kovalski with eight kills and three blocks, Jenna DelVecchio with 10 digs and three aces, Sammi Westfall with seven assists and Karlie Lander with three aces.

UP NEXT

Buckeye Local: Takes on Brooke on Monday.

Indian Creek: Hosts Beaver Local on Monday.