Sports
Ace Nation: Athens takes the lead in conference with win over Nelsonville-York
By: Thomas Billington
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BUCHTEL, Ohio (WOUB) – The Nelsonville-York Buckeyes hosted the Athens Bulldogs in a TVC-Ohio matchup. The Bulldogs took the reins of the TVC-Ohio with a three-set victory over the Buckeyes. Athens overcome the ferrous Buckeyes lineup, which includes six starting seniors. With this win Athens snapped a seven-season drought against Nelsonville-York.
The first set started off a back-and-forth exchange of points between the Bulldogs and the Buckeyes. As the set progressed Nelsonville-York took a lead of four before the first time-out called by Athens. The Bulldogs regained control of the game after a second timeout, going on a six-point scoring run and tying the game at 22. And then 23, and 24. Then once again at 25. Athens finally secured the set with an ace, from Caitlyn Hayes, winning 27 to 25.
The second set started with four straight points from the Bulldogs. Three of which were off aces from Bulldog’s Alexa Reed. Athens would lose the lead to the Buckeyes, before regaining it and going up by six points. However, after Nelsonville-York called a timeout, they began to regain the momentum, tying the game up at 17 all. The two teams would go tic-for-tac. Athens went on to scrape out a set two win 25 to 23.
Nelsonville-York struggled with the intense and mighty defense of Athens. When senior Rylee Toadvine was asked about the defensive strategy, she said, “Our mentality is that every single ball is playable.”
Nelsonville-York has never been down two sets this whole season, and this fact began to show in the final one of this three-set match. The Buckeyes would fall behind the Bulldogs early in the set. Nelsonville-York would call their first timeout of the set down 4 to 12. The change in game plan from the Buckeyes didn’t seem to affect the play. As the Buckeyes would fall to the Bulldogs 25-17.
Athens hopes to continue their success when they host New Lexington at home on Saturday. Nelsonville-York will get the chance to bounce back as they travel to Eastern on Monday.