SEYMOUR — Columbus East overcame a brief second-set hiccup to post a 25-18, 19-25, 25-22, 25-16 Hoosier Hills conference volleyball win Tuesday night at Seymour.
The Olympians broke a 12-12 tie with four straight points in the first set and led the rest of the way. Brooke Banister, Bailey Western and Cortney VanLiew had some strong attack kills in the middle of the set, when East outscored the Owls 10-4.
Seymour held a 12-9 lead in the second set before going on an 8-5 run to extend the lead. The Owls scored the final three points of the set, with the final point coming on an error by East.
Seymour held a 20-16 lead in the third set before East outscored the Owls 9-2 down the stretch. VanLiew had back-to-back kills to put the Olympians top 22-21, and Western had an attack for set point.
East (3-0, 2-0) broke a 7-7 tie with five straight points and led the rest of the way in the fourth set.
“I feel like Bailey Western was almost perfect,” East coach Stacie Pagnard said. “She only had two errors the entire match. She had 22 kills, so it was a high percentage by her.
“We had other hitters that were about 50-50, and in a game like this, where Seymour plays great defense, they have great ball control, and you can’t put yourselves at a disadvantage when you’re making that many mistakes offensively,” she said. “I felt like were able to turn it around a little bit with our serving, and defensively, we stayed steady the entire match.”
The Olympians had 57 attack kills, with VanLiew leading the way with 25 and Western right behind with 22. Kendal Williams recorded 55 assists, Western had one block and Alaysha Pollert notched 28 digs. Banister served three aces, and Seena Greiwe added two aces.
“I thought our defense played extremely well,” Owls coach Angie Lucas said. “When we got our serves in, they were placed in the right position. It was just a matter of getting more points off of our serves. At times, the serving was very aggressive.
“Our blocking was aggressive,” she said. “They’ve got good hitters. Our hands is something we’ve got to work on. Overall I’m very pleased with the performance of the girls. I thought they hung in there with them, then we just got tired. You could see we just got extremely tired at the end of the match.”
Pagnard said she was pleased to get a conference win on the road.
“Seymour’s been a great program, historically,” Pagnard said. “I respect them a ton so this is a nice win for sure.”
