Coming off a four-set season-opening loss at Seymour, the Columbus North volleyball team found itself in another tight match in Thursday night’s home opener against Shelbyville.
This time, the Bull Dogs pulled out the close sets. They picked up their first victory of the season, a 26-24, 25-19, 25-23 decision.
“I think throughout the game, we had a lot more intensity,” senior setter Lily Meyercord said. “We definitely should have beaten Seymour, but we came out here kind of wanting revenge after that loss and pulled out a win.”
The first set featured nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than three points, and neither scored more than four points in a row in that opening set.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
North coach Caitie Greiner said winning that set was big for her team’s confidence.
“I think it definitely helped with our momentum,” Greiner said. “I don’t necessarily feel like we should have been in that situation to begin with because we had a lot of unforced errors. But it was nice that the girls stuck with it, and they stayed calm and they really fought it out.”
The second set was tied at 3-3 when the Bull Dogs (1-1) got a sideout and five consecutive service points from Emma Tynan to take a 9-3 lead. After they built the lead to 23-14, the Golden Bears came back to within 23-19 before North finished off the set.
The Bull Dogs looked like they might cruise in the third set when five straight service points from Kate Whaley gave them a 19-13 lead. But Shelbyville came back to tie it at 23-23 before kills from Lauryn James on the right side and Lauren Opalka on the left side finished off the match.
“It’s always nice to win in the first home match,” Greiner said. “I think tonight, the girls played a little bit calmer than they had on Tuesday at Seymour. It really allowed me to do a couple of changes to the lineup and get some different people playing different positions and really see what’s going to work for us.”
Tynan finished with seven kills and two aces, and Maddy Sebahar had 21 digs and two aces to lead the Bull Dogs. James notched seven assist blocks, and Jalynn Reardon served two aces.
Meyercord recorded 21 assists and six kills, most of them on sets over the blockers.
“We were just trying to mix it up,” Meyercord said. “We would get a few hard kills, and then they’d defend against it, so then we’d do a few tips and dunks.”
Agustina Fainguersch contributed six kills, one solo and two assist blocks and 12 digs. Whaley added nine assists, six digs and an ace. Meyercord had one solo and four assist blocks, and Gabby Genth added three kills and three assist blocks.
“I feel like we meshed better today,” Sebahar said. “We were more cohesive as a unit, and I think everybody played their role on the court. We defended Shelbyville’s attackers better than we defended Seymour’s. We finished when we needed to, and that’s what we didn’t do at Seymour, so it was good to see that we could improve upon that.”
