Buckeye top Creek in home opener
Andrew Grimm BLOCK — Buckeye Local's Ellie Wilson gets her hands up to block an attempt from Indian Creek's Meghan Paoloemillio during Monday's match.
Andrew Grimm HITTING — Indian Creek's Trinity Greene hits past Buckeye Local's Kennedy Long.
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Buckeye Local's Zoe Haines hits past Indian Creek's Kylie Dray and Maddie Moran.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Indian Creek's Nina Householder attempts a kill.
Andrew Grimm BIG HIT — Buckeye Local's Ellie Wilson attempts a kill past Indian Creek's Kylie Dray.
Andrew Grimm BLOCK — Buckeye Local's Ellie Wilson gets her hands up to block an attempt from Indian Creek's Meghan Paoloemillio during Monday's match.
Andrew Grimm HITTING — Indian Creek's Trinity Greene hits past Buckeye Local's Kennedy Long.
Andrew Grimm AT THE NET — Buckeye Local's Zoe Haines hits past Indian Creek's Kylie Dray and Maddie Moran.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Indian Creek's Nina Householder attempts a kill.
Andrew Grimm BIG HIT — Buckeye Local's Ellie Wilson attempts a kill past Indian Creek's Kylie Dray.
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CONNORVILLE -- After seeming to lose the momentum and dropping the third set to be denied a sweep, Buckeye Local head coach Abbey Wilson knew getting the momentum back in the fourth set would be pivotal if her team was going to get a victory.
Get the momentum back her team did indeed.
After winning the first two sets with fast starts, the Panthers got going again in the later portion of the fourth set to fend off visiting Indian Creek in the Panthers’ home opener on Kara Bright Court.
“I’m thankful that they can stay locked in when it doesn’t go our way,” Wilson said. “We have such a young team this year, we tried something a little different in the third set and it didn’t work out so well. I was glad to see them be able to recover and finish it.
“We have really good upperclassmen that are leaders on and off the court. We have 22 girls and 11 freshmen, so the upperclassmen are helping us a lot bring things together. It was good to see us get a win like this.”
The Panthers (1-1) jumped out 6-0 in the opening set and fended off a couple of Creek runs, staying in front for a 25-19 win and 1-0 lead in the match.
Buckeye Local again got off to a good start, scoring the first three points of the second set. Creek, making its season debut with a youthful squad, started to find its footing and took leads of 8-6 and 10-8, but the Panthers again clawed back in front. After the match was tied 15-15, 16-16 and 18-18, the hosts had another strong run to go up 2-0 in the match with a 25-21 second set win.
Indian Creek, trying to fend off a sweep, finally got off to a good start in the third set, jumping out to an 8-2 lead and did not look back, taking a convincing 25-13 set win to keep the match going.
The fourth set was perhaps the tightest contested as the teams traded the lead back-and-forth until the Panthers put together a 8-2 run to pull away and close out the match.
“Last year we lost to them twice last year and I never know what to expect in the first match at home so it was big for us that we showed up and got a win,” Wilson said. “Our fans showed up and did a good job of cheering us on. It was loud in here. We have not started school yet so the routine is not there yet and I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was a good crowd and a fun night. I’m happy with the girls.”
While it was not the result they hoped for, Indian Creek head coach Crystal Hammack was happy to see her young squad find its footing and improve as they went in their opening match of the season.
“I thought we played really well defensively and we really grew from set one to set four,” Hammack said. “I think some of our newcomers were a little bit nervous early on but they got their feet under them and started to perform better as the match went on. This was our first match, it’s always a little bit different for those jayvee kids that are moving up. I thought we started to take some bigger swings, didn’t play scared and we grew a little bit, which is the goal.”
For the Panthers, Karlie Lander tallied seven assists and eight digs, Loraina Hess contributed nine assists, four digs and an ace, Ellie Wilson recorded five kills, two blocks, two assists and three aces, Brooklyn Torok finished with four kills, 10 digs and two aces, Karlie Glover had 12 digs and three aces and Jadyn Pleise recorded nine digs and two kills.
The Redskins got six kills and five digs from Trinity Greene, five kills, 11 assists, two aces and six digs from Meghan Paoloemillio, 14 digs and an ace from Phoenyx Vines and seven assists, two kills, four digs and an ace from Maddie Moran.
UP NEXT
Indian Creek: Has a quick turnaround to take on Big Red on the road today.
Buckeye Local: Is back at home today hosting Toronto.