Thursday night brought with in an important conference tilt for the Columbus East volleyball team when it welcomed Floyd Central to the Orange Pit.
With a win, the Olympians would control their own destiny in the battle for Hoosier Hills Conference championship. With a loss, however, they would relinquish that power to other conference teams, specifically, the Highlanders.
The match was tight all night. Following a riveting battle that saw each team fight, knowing how big the moment was, it was Floyd Central that pulled through with a 25-22, 12-25, 25-16, 25-22 victory, giving it a firm grip on the conference championship race.
The fourth set was a great indicator of how evenly matched the two teams are and how the night went for East. Although there were 11 ties in the set, and the Olympians (5-11, 4-2) held the lead early in the set, however, Highlanders (9-13, 5-0) fought their way back to tie the set at 12-12.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
From there, it was a back-and-forth affair, with no team gaining more than a two-point cushion. The final tie came at 22-22 before Floyd Central was able come through at the end and rattle off the final three points to put the set and match away.
“I think this match was a great precursor to sectional for us," East coach Stacie Pagnard said. "I was very vocal about the conference and wanting to win the HHC. Of course, it’s a disappointment not to win, but it’s also a learning experience about being able to play in critical situations and having the right mentality.”
The Olympians got off to a sluggish start in the first set, when the Highlanders bolted out to a 8-0 lead before a kill by Rilee Jessee stopped the run. East then scored eight of the next nine points to pull to within 9-8, forcing a Floyd Central timeout.
Following the timeout, the Highlanders regrouped and were able to regain the momentum, upping their lead to 19-13. Once again, the Olympians wouldn’t go away, chipping away at the lead and closing to within 22-21 before falling in the first set.
The second set was the polar opposite of the first. It was East who got off to a blistering start. A pair of blocks from CJ Clausen got the Olympians rolling, and after a thunderous kill by Allison Mack, a Kendall Schaefer ace and a couple of Floyd Central hitting errors, the Olympians found themselves with a 13-4 lead.
East maintained that cushion until Floyd Central was able to put together a three-point run to cut the lead to six, but that was as close as they would get. The Olympians dominated the set the rest of the way to even the match at a game apiece.
“I thought CJ Clausen played well tonight,” Pagnard said. “She was able to come in and disrupt some of their better attackers, so that was good. Overall, we served well.”
It was apparent out of the gate in the third set that the Highlanders had quickly forgotten about the previous one. Although the set was tied on four different occasions, Floyd Central never trailed.
The last tie of the set came at 5-5, and from there, the Highlanders steadily pulled away, playing stellar defense and using timely hitting to take a 2-1 lead on their way to the victory.
For East, Rilee Jessee led the way with 12 kills, while Clausen added 11. Clausen had six blocks, and Madyson Foster dished out 36 assists and served three aces.
