Sports
Ace Nation: Buckeyes close their season undefeated in conference play
By: Hayley Mitchell
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BUCHTEL, Ohio (WOUB) – The Nelsonville-York Buckeyes hosted the Athens Bulldogs on Thursday for their final regular season game. The Buckeyes were ready to make their seniors proud for Senior Night with a sweep against the Bulldogs.
Nelsonville-York kept Athens in the back corners for majority of the first set with plenty of corner spikes from Chloe Lehman and Kyleigh Warren. Any stray volleyballs that couldn’t get set up to the front row were sent deep into Athens’ territory by the Buckeyes. Even setter Megan Booth wasn’t afraid to get her hands on a few points and scored a few setter dumps for her team. The Buckeyes took their first set 25-11.
Athens was riled up for set two and came back on the court ready to throw a few punches. They kept Nelsonville-York on their toes with a few good rallies, and neither could get a leg up on the competition. The score remained tied for the first six points until Lehman approached the net to lay down a few kills. Her outside offense was the turning point the Buckeyes needed to pull ahead of the Bulldogs and win the second set 25-19.
More great news for Lehman came early in the third set as she hit her 1,000-career kill.
“It’s taken years of practice,” said Lehman. “I’m glad that it finally came through tonight”.
As the match resumed, the Bulldogs played catchup for the second half of the set, but the Buckeyes were determined to close their season undefeated. The Buckeyes sealed the deal with the victory over Athens, 25-18 for set three.
Nelsonville-York has solidified their number one position in the Ohio TVC this season. As tournament play approaches, the team is committed to remain unfazed by the upcoming competition.
“This year we’re going to take it day by day and game by game and not overlook any of our opponents” said Coach Wayne Dickens. “We’re going to hopefully stay focused on working our way through the tournament and getting as far as possible”.
Tournaments will kick off next week and Nelsonville-York will start with a bye week. Their game will be against the winner of the Piketon v. Dawson-Bryant and will be hosted at Nelsonville-York high school on Oct. 19.
The Bulldogs will host their first tournament game against 6 seed New Lexington on Oct. 16. First serve is set for 7:00pm.