Panthers hang tough, take a set from undefeated Martins Ferry
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MARTINS FERRY - Whenever a team is undefeated and state ranked, no matter the sport, each and every remaining opponent on its schedule is trying to knock it off. Case in point: Wednesday night's high school volleyball match between OVAC Class 4A rivals Buckeye Local and Martins Ferry.
The Purple Riders (14-0) remained spotless inside the Tolbert Gymnasium, but the visiting Panthers (4-9) made them earn every point before falling 25-17, 25-27, 25-13 and 25-14.
"I'm extremely pleased with my team. Our goal is to always come in and play competitive," Buckeye Local head coach Abbey Wilson said. "They were 13-0 and had everything to lose. We didn't have anything to lose. I told the girls that you've just got to play as hard as you can play.and they did."
Martins Ferry had swept Buckeye Local a little more than three weeks ago in Connorville for one of its nine sweeps on the season.
"I always think that you think you're going to beat a team before you play them," Martins Ferry head coach Jaela Koller said. "I tell these girls every day that the team on the other side (of the net) wants you so badly that you have to come out like a lion. You've got to be the king of the jungle."
After dropping the first set, the Panthers sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the second before the Purple Riders reeled off nine of the next 10 points to take a 10-5 advantage. The set, which took 25 minutes to complete, was deadlocked at 13, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24 and 25 before Buckeye Local received a service ace from Jadyn Pleise and then watched Martins Ferry knock the ball out of play for a 27-25 victory.
"To win the second set was fantastic. It's always our goal to try and win at least one set," Wilson added. "We have a young team, not making excuses, as we have four freshmen on the floor. I'm so proud of the way the girls played tonight. We tried out a different rotation and I feel like it worked out well for us."
Buckeye Local kept the momentum in the third set and had the Purple Riders on the ropes as the match was dead-even at 12 before Martins Ferry flexed its muscles and reeled off 15 of the final 16 points to win 25-13.
"We finally came alive," Koller stressed. "We played like we should have played all night."
The Purple Riders used chunk points to pull away in the fourth set as a 6-4 lead ballooned to 11-4 and they were never threatened, winning 25-14.
Koller didn't want to think that Homecoming Week had anything to do with her team's play, but it could've.
"We have three seniors on the (homecoming) court and several underclassmen as well," she noted. "In my eyes, this game wasn't about homecoming. I'm sure teenage girls don't think that way, but there are no excuses. To me, this is their job. This is what you show up to do. You can't be 13-0 and play like that and expect to stay undefeated."
Junior Olivia Harkness continued her solid all-around play with 37 assists, 10 digs and a trio of service aces, while senior SJ Koller added 28 digs, five assists and two aces. Classmate Maddie Lucas contributed 16 digs and half-a-dozen kills and Nicole Hammerquist put down 14 kills. Giana Chirpas recorded 10 kills and two aces. Gracie Lucas finished with eight digs and a pair of aces.
Karlie Glover registered 22 digs for Buckeye Local and Loraina Hess added nine. Pleis had three kills and Ellie Wilson charted three blocks.
Martins Ferry, which entered the match ranked No. 3 in the latest Ohio Volleyball Coaches Association poll, returns to the court Thursday as Cambridge visits for a varsity-only match at 5:30 p.m. Buckeye Local heads to Cadiz Thursday for a match with Harrison Central.