Sports
Ace Nation: The Spartans defend the Alley against the Ironladies
By: Jillian Sanders
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ALBANY, Ohio (WOUB) — The Alexander Spartans swept the Jackson Ironladies in the first round of tournament play on Tuesday night.
Energy was high in the Alley as neither team wanted to let up to kick off the first set. Points were traded back and forth until Alexander’s setter, Jade Seaman, had back-to-back aces to bring the Spartans up nine to six. Out of the timeout, the Ironladies were not able to find any momentum as Spartans Outside, Lila Moser had a massive kill. Moser had 10 kills that night. Jackson looked like they would make a comeback after a block from Middle Paige Dailey. It was not enough for the Ironladies as the Spartans took the first set 25 to 13.
Heading into the second set the momentum looked to have switched between the teams. There were multiple team errors on both sides of the net which caused the intensity to multiply. It was not until an ace from Spartans Libero, Kalli Jarvis, put her team up eleven to eight. Both middles came to play. Alexander’s Meena Juedes had a huge block followed by a kill. Dailey had a response with three big swings out of the middle for Jackson. Ironladies trailed 13 to 11. Jackson fed off this energy as Lauren Hinsch had two back-to-back aces. This spark slowly burned out as Alexander would take the second set 25 to 19.
After a close last two sets the Spartans hoped to close out the match and complete the sweep. Moser shared how they hoped to have fun. “We really wanted to just have fun and come up with creative plays in the third set.” Moser shared, “We wanted to play for our seniors after a rough week against Athens last week.”
This energy was carried into the third set. Right-side Marrissa Beach went on a 9-point service run for the Spartans to kick off the set. Jackson called two timeouts in hopes of regrouping. Unfortunately, this energy was never found for Jackson, as Alexander would take the final set 25 to five.
Alexander hopes to continue this energy into their next matchup against Fairfield Union on Thursday. Head Coach Lauren Hill shares what her team has been doing to prepare for the next round of tournament play. “Focusing on our opponent is always important post-season, but more so focusing on ourselves is what really matters,” Hill states. “We want to play for each other, play for ourselves and play with grit.”
The Spartans have high hopes for Thursday as they will head to Fairfield Union for the second round of tournament play.