HITTING HARD — Big Red’s Addison Snyder attempts a kill in front of Toronto’s Sydney Fisher during Tuesday’s match. - Andrew Grimm

Each team overcame big deficits, each team recovered from letting big leads get away to still win the set, and each used big runs to win sets.

When all was said and done, more than two hours after the first serve, Big Red left the Gem City with a 3-2 victory in a wild contest.

“That was a great match,” Big Red head coach Logan Colabella said. “Both teams played very hard, there were so many momentum swings and our girls responded when we needed to. They would go up and we would come back, we would go up and they would come back.

“It was very exciting to be a part of, but I don’t want to do that again.”

WAY UP — Toronto’s Jayna Reeves goes up for a kill attempt against Big Red on Tuesday. - Andrew Grimm

It was a much different match than the first meeting between the teams in Steubenville, a Big Red sweep. The victory gives Big Red a sweep of the season series.

“What a great match,” Toronto head coach Shannon Bahen said. “It was back and forth, neither side was going to quit. A nice crowd in here got to see a very good, exciting match. It hurts a little bit to come out on the short end of it.

“Give Logan credit, she did a great job with her team. Our girls played hard, it was a very different match this time, we came out with a lot of energy and played them much better.”

In the first two sets, the team that rallied did not win.

Toronto (6-10) jumped out to leads of 8-2 and 23-11 in the opening set, just to see Big Red (10-6) rattle off a 13-1 run to knot the score at 24-all. The Red Knights, though, bounced right back and scored the last two points for a 1-0 lead.

BLOCKING — Big Red’s Addison Snyder (15) and Emma Lyons (10) try to block an attempt from Toronto’s Jayna Reeves during Tuesday’s match. - Andrew Grimm

In the second set, the roles were reversed. Big Red opened strong with a 14-5 lead, but Toronto came firing back with seven-straight points and took a 22-21 lead late in the set, but this time Steubenville recovered and scored three-straight to take the set 25-22 and even the match.

In the third set, a comeback was finally completed. Toronto opened a 13-4 lead and prompted Big Red to use up both of its timeouts. Steubenville rallied from there, though, and this time finished, fending off three set points in storming back to win 26-24, closing the set on a 19-4 run for a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth set, the tables were turned again. After Big Red opened a 17-12 lead, the Knights scored 12 of the next 13 points to take the lead, then fended off the visitors for a 25-21 set win to force a decisive fifth set.

In the fifth, however, there would be no rally. Big Red scored the first nine points and did not let up, taking the set 15-4 and the match 3-2.

“I am really proud of them for how they buckled down and took control in the last set,” Colabella said. “They did a good job of closing strong and making sure we finished.”

For Big Red Giuliana Cramer had 17 kills, nine digs, a block and two aces, Arya Bigsby tallied 15 assists, eight kills, four digs, a block and two aces, Aubrey Slussar recorded 53 assists, two digs and three aces, Emma Lyons tallied 10 kills, six blocks, three aces and six digs, Annabella Clutter finished with 23 digs, six kills and two aces and Addison Snyder tallied seven kills, two blocks and an ace.

For Toronto, Jayna Reeves finished with 12 kills, 10 digs and a block, Kylie Mitchell tallied seven kills and six blocks, Chloe Fisher recorded six kills, four blocks and 10 assists, JJ Rebich tallied 16 assists and three kills, Gracee Rex recorded 25 digs and Josey Dickinson finished with four kills.

UP NEXT

Big Red: Hosts Catholic Central on Thursday in the second match of the city championship. Big Red won the first meeting. Steubenville will also be celebrating senior night inside the Crimson Center.

Toronto: Will look to bounce back tonight hosting Conotton Valley.