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STEUBENVILLE -- The Edison volleyball team was not able to put Big Red away, and they made the Wildcats pay.
Steubenville fought off three match points in the fourth set against Edison, and they went on to win the set and ultimately the match, 25-22, 24-26, 24-26, 28-26, 15-10, Thursday night inside the Crimson Center.
“It came down to they wanted it,” Big Red (2-1) head coach Logan Colabella said. “We put ourselves in a tough situation. The girls knew they wanted it, and I could not be prouder of them for doing that.”
The fifth set was deadlocked at 7, however, the hosts scored six of the next eight points to build a 13-9 advantage. The visitors tallied the next point to pull within three points, however, Big Red tallied the final two points of the match to record the hard-fought victory.
“I hate to continue to say it, but we have a young mentality,” Edison (0-2) head coach Leah Eft said. “We are still learning the basics of volleyball. Our freshman setter did a great job against a good opponent. The girls are getting it. They are coming around mentally. I am ready to see it, for sure. It is coming.”
Leading 2-1 in the match, the Wildcats led 24-22 in the fourth giving them two chances to come out with the victory, but Big Red battled back and knotted the score at 24. Edison then regained the advantage at 25-24 putting themselves one point away from victory, however, it was not to be as Big Red rallied once again and the scored three of the final four points of the set to win it 28-26 evening the match at 2-all and forcing a deciding fifth set.
“We have done a lot of mental game talk,” Eft said. “We have talked about finding spots and creating space. With our young mentality, sometimes they get confused and don’t understand what we want them to execute. We are working on it. I am very proud of the girls.”
With the fifth set only going to 15 points instead of the usual 25, it is important for teams to get off to a good start if they want to prevail, and the victors were able to do that.
“You want to start off strong,” Colabella said. “If you don’t do that, you put yourselves behind the eight ball. Getting off to a good start is important. The girls know that. We played a five-set match Tuesday. We wanted to jump out on them. We wanted to start off strong.”
Individually for Big Red, A’rya Bigsby tallied one ace, nine kills, three blocks and three digs, Aubrey Slussar recorded one ace, 28 assists and two kills and Phynyx Fleming finished with three aces, eight kills and four blocks. Also, Kaylee Sustik collected two aces, four assists and 19 digs, Addy Snyder added two aces, six kills, three blocks and one dig and Terionah Thompson produced one assist, four kills and two blocks. Next, Addison Luther delivered one assist, one kill and two digs, Joshlynn Starr contributed two digs and Kaliyah Chamberlain ended up with one dig. Finally, Norah Younce chipped in with one ace.
“Big Red has some nice-heavy hitters,” Eft said. “They do a good job. Logan does a good job.”
The Wildcats also received contributions from many different players.
“Edison is always great competition,” Colabella said. “They hustle. They work hard. It is always a great match.”
Big Red got off to a slow start in the first game, but the home team battled back and ended up winning by three to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Undeterred, the Wildcats scratched and clawed their way back into the match as they won the next two sets by two points to take a 2-1 lead. Edison then put itself in prime position to win the match, however, it was not to be as Big Red responded and ended up winning their second-straight five-set match to get over the .500 mark for the season.
The match was back-and-forth from the outset.
“That is what we do,” Eft said. “We don’t have any breathers.”
The match took 2hours and 9minutes to complete.
Edison is scheduled to play Cambridge Saturday afternoon inside the Edison Fieldhouse.
Big Red is slated to play Wheeling Park Tuesday night at home.