Weir gets momentum, tops CCHS
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Weir High's Ella Kaufman hits against Catholic Central's Gianna Lemal.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Catholic Central's Regan Meek hits against Weir High.
Andrew Grimm SERVING — Weir High's Gabby Sprouse delivers a serve against Catholic Central.
Andrew Grimm HITTING — Catholic Central's Gianna Lemal attempts while Weir's Gabby Sprouse goes up to block.
Andrew Grimm OVER — Weir High's Zoey Spencer hits against a block from Central's Mara Delaney.
Andrew Grimm JUMPING — Centtal's Sienna Krupp goes up for an attempt against Weir.
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Weir High's Ella Kaufman hits against Catholic Central's Gianna Lemal.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Catholic Central's Regan Meek hits against Weir High.
Andrew Grimm SERVING — Weir High's Gabby Sprouse delivers a serve against Catholic Central.
Andrew Grimm HITTING — Catholic Central's Gianna Lemal attempts while Weir's Gabby Sprouse goes up to block.
Andrew Grimm OVER — Weir High's Zoey Spencer hits against a block from Central's Mara Delaney.
Andrew Grimm JUMPING — Centtal's Sienna Krupp goes up for an attempt against Weir.
Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Volleyball is a game of momentum, and Weir High captured it at all the right moments Tuesday.
The Red Riders overcame dropping the first set of their match at Catholic Central, winning the final three sets to take a four-set victory over the Crusaders.
In their three-straight set win, the Red Riders had a big run in each. They had a 9-1 run to take control in the second set on the way to a 25-13 win to even the match, they had an 8-2 run to get back into the third set then scored seven of the final eight to complete a 27-25 comeback, and finally broke a back-and-forth battle of nine ties in the fourth set with an 8-0 run, then scored the final four-straight to put the match away after Central had fought back, 25-21.
“I think it was a good team effort,” Weir head coach Fran Capaldi said. “They came together and pulled it out. It was good to see. We got the momentum at times and had some good runs.”
For the Crusaders, the momentum swings were not new as the team continues to try to learn to manage them.
“That has been our story all year,” Central head coach Megan Lloyd said. “We’re working on the mental toughness. We’re really strong in the beginning, and then when things get a little rocky we have trouble being able to shut the door again.”
Lloyd liked the way her team kept fighting when getting behind, but hopes to see her team not need to fight back as often.
“We have been really good at fighting back, they do not give up,” Lloyd said. “We need to eliminate the runs and keep the momentum shifts smaller, we’ll get there. I am proud of the way they keep fighting, we just don’t want to have to fight back so much.”
For the Red Riders, being able to close is something they have been working on and Capaldi was glad to see them being able to put it into practice.
“A lot of practices have been focusing on getting the last five points to finish and secure the game,” she said. “That was what was really different from the first set to the last three. We practice that a lot, we have to be a finishing team.
“It’s a big week for us, we’re coming up on OVACs and we have some big regional games this week, so we have to get tough and learn to keep finishing like we did tonight.”
For Weir (5-8), Liliana Ascencio had 35 assists, three digs and two kills, Ella Kaufman had 13 kills and 29 digs, Gabby Sprouse tallied seven kills, an ace, two digs and four assisted blocks, Alivia Maciek recorded eight digs and an ace, Zoey Spencer tallied five kills, four aces, three digs and four assisted blocks and Lauren Nagy had 10 digs, two assists and three aces.
The Crusaders (7-6) got eight aces, seven kills and 21 digs from Regan Meek, four aces, four kills and a block from Gianna Lemal, 17 assists, four digs and two aces from Avi Bressler, 11 digs and three aces from Corina Brem, seven kills and six digs from Mara Delaney and 18 digs and two kills from Sienna Krupp.
UP NEXT
Weir High: Hosts Wheeling Central on Thursday.
Central: Has a trip to cross-town foe Big Red on Thursday.