Big Red finishes big win over Toronto
Andrew Grimm HITTING HARD — Big Red's Phynyx Fleming attempts a kill past Toronto's Josey Dickinson during Thursday's match.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Toronto's Addison Dobbs attempts a kill against Big Red.
Andrew Grimm Big Red's Addison Snyder hits past Toronto's Josey Dickinson and Kylie Mitchell at the net.
Andrew Grimm ATTEMPT — Toronto's Jayna Reeves hits past a block from Big Red's Addison Snyder.
Andrew Grimm BLOCKING — Big Red's Aubrey Slussar and Phynyx Fleming attempt to block an attack from Toronto's Kylie Mitchell.
Andrew Grimm HITTING HARD — Big Red's Phynyx Fleming attempts a kill past Toronto's Josey Dickinson during Thursday's match.
Andrew Grimm GOING UP — Toronto's Addison Dobbs attempts a kill against Big Red.
Andrew Grimm Big Red's Addison Snyder hits past Toronto's Josey Dickinson and Kylie Mitchell at the net.
Andrew Grimm ATTEMPT — Toronto's Jayna Reeves hits past a block from Big Red's Addison Snyder.
Andrew Grimm BLOCKING — Big Red's Aubrey Slussar and Phynyx Fleming attempt to block an attack from Toronto's Kylie Mitchell.
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TORONTO -- The Big Red volleyball team is learning how to close the show.
After winning the first two sets, Steubenville saw Toronto rally back to win the third and then take a late lead in the fourth.
However, Big Red re-gained the momentum and put together one last, match-clinching run for a hard-fought four-set victory on the road over the OVAC Class 2A leading Red Knights on the road Thursday night.
After battling to wins in the opening two sets, 25-21 and 25-23, Big Red saw Toronto win the third 25-21, then rally to take a 21-20 lead in the fourth set after Steubenville had led by as many as seven. However, a 5-0 Steubenville run closed the show.
"We knew coming into it that it was going to be a battle and we were prepared," said Big Red head coach Logan Collabella, who's team has now won 5 of its last six and four in a row. "We had not played since Saturday so we had time to prepare and were ready to play. The girls did a good job of showing up and getting the job done after a few days between matches.
"Earlier in the season we had some matches go to five, I think they kind of made a decision that tonight they wanted to finish and get the job done and not let that happen. From the beginning of the season to now they have done a really good job of learning how to finish."
The first set was back and fourth. Big Red (6-2) scored four of the first five, then the Red Knights (7-2) scored seven-straight. After it was tired 8-8 and 12-12, Big Red edged ahead and took a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, things were tied up early multiple times before Toronto jumped ahead 12-9. After a Big Red timeout, they pushed back and ultimately tied it back up at 17-all, going on a 5-0 run to take the lead then fending off the Knights for a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, Toronto scored the first three and led 6-2, before Big Red rallied and tied the match at 8-8, 13-13, 14-14. The Knights, however, scored five of the next six then held on to extend the match.
After Toronto scored the first two points of the fourth, Big Red rattled off an 8-1 run to take control. Toronto, though, was not ready to go away. They methodically worked their way back into it, tying the set six times before finally taking their first lead since it was 2-0 at 21-20.
After a timeout, however, Big Red scored the last five-straight to hold off the rally and deny a fifth set.
"Steubenville is a well-coached team, a strong team and we competed well, we battled, but it came down to execution and we did not execute as well as we needed to until later in the match," Toronto head coach Shannon Bahen said. "I am proud of the way our girls battled back and did not stay down. We needed to execute better early on, especially in that first set. It's tough to fight back when you fall behind 2-0 but I am proud of our girls for battling as hard as they did.
"This is a match that is going to make us better."
For Big Red, A'rya Bigsby tallied 11 kills, two digs, and an ace, Terionah Thompson had nine kills and three blocks, Addison Snyder had eight kills, four digs, an ace and three blocks, Phynyx Gleming had eight kills and an ace, Aubrey Slussar had 24 assists, two digs and five aces and Kaliyah Chamberlain had three aces and three digs.
For the Red Knights, Jayna Reeves tallied 17 kills, Addison Dobbs had 20 kills, Kylie Mitchell had four blocks and Danielle Sutherin recorded 40 assists.
UP NEXT
Toronto: Will look to bounce back on Monday when they host Southern Local.
Big Red: Looks to extend a four-game winning streak on Saturday when they host Cambridge.