Sports
Ace Nation: Buckeyes hold on to win in a five-set thriller over Tomcats
By: Greta Gunderson
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GLOUSTER, Ohio (WOUB) — The Trimble Tomcats hosted the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes on Saturday. The Buckeyes came out on top in five sets over the Tomcats.
The first set was back-and-forth with tough defense from both teams. An ace from Alyvia Portier gave Trimble a 16 to 13 lead, forcing Nelsonville-York to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Buckeyes scored five straight points to take the lead, and they didn’t stop there. Nelsonville-York went on to win the set 25 to 22.
The second set started close as well with both teams playing scrappy and aggressive at the net. An ace from Katie McKinney put the Buckeyes ahead 15 to 10, and the Tomcats called a timeout. Despite Trimble’s efforts Nelsonville-York pulled out the set two win on a kill from Morgan Lehman, 25 to 21.
In the third set, the Tomcats found new energy, slowly creating separation throughout the set. A kill from Bailee Bickley extended Trimble’s lead to 21 to 17. The Buckeyes began to capitalize on Tomcat errors and brought the score to 24 to 24 after an explosive block from Madi Pidcock. When asked about the Buckeye team this year, Pidcock has high hopes for the trajectory of their season.
“We knew that there was going to be growing pains, there’s a lot of things that we still need to work on, but so far I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
The Tomcats’ momentum continued into set four. They jumped out to an early seven to one lead behind two aces from Bickley and Nelsonville-York errors. Despite Trimble’s energy the Buckeyes didn’t give up. Three aces in a row from Ella Vohlken brought Nelsonville-York within one, causing the Tomcats to call a timeout up 13 to 12. The score was tight from then on, but Trimble just pulled away at the end, winning the set 25 to 22 on a block from Rilynn Fouts.
Heading into the fifth set, both teams were ready for a battle. Buckeye Head Coach Wayne Dicken gave his team reassurance before the start of the set.
“I just told them that we’ve been here before. We went to a fifth set against Federal Hocking last Saturday and we came out on top in that.”
The back-and-forth play continued in the fifth set, both teams hungry for the win. A kill from Abby Henry putting the Tomcats ahead 13 to 11. Despite this, Nelsonville-York dug deep and rattled off four straight points to win the match 15 to 13.
Dicken mentioned that they play small games in the fifth set to try to stay out ahead of their opponents,
“We didn’t hit our numbers early in the fifth set at all, but we got to 15 first and that’s all that mattered.”
The Buckeyes hope to continue their win streak as they travel to River Valley to take on the Raiders on Tuesday. Trimble hopes to bounce back when they travel to Waterford to take on the Wildcats on Thursday.