Columbus North hoped to go home early during Thursday night’s volleyball match with Shelbyville, but after the Golden Bears captured the third set to avoid the sweep, momentum might have swung over to the other side.
The Bull Dogs made sure that wasn’t the case.
North jumped out big in the fourth set and never looked back to claim a 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 25-15 season-opening victory.
"They knew that they wanted to win that match and end it in three, but that didn’t happen, but we needed to do it in four," North coach Quin Shoultz said. "They came out a little slower in Set 3, and they realized they can’t do that because that team wasn’t going to let off, so they came out strong right off the bat in set four and kept that lead."
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The Bull Dogs started off with a 6-3 lead, and after the teams traded points, Shelbyville came back to tie the game at 7-7. Later on in the set with the score at 14-14, North went on a 5-1 run that forced a Golden Bear timeout. It didn’t matter as the lead it built was good enough to claim the set.
Shelbyville started out with a 6-2 lead in the second, but North came back scoring six of the next seven points to lead 8-7. The Golden Bears led 16-12 until the Bull Dogs scored seven of the next nine points to lead 19-18. Later on in the set with North leading 23-21, the Bull Dogs thought they were getting ready for set point, but a foot fault negated the point. The point didn’t come back to haunt them as Shelbyville scored two of the next three points to tie it at 24-24. but North scored the next two points to capture the set.
In third set, the Golden Bears made sure the sweep didn’t happen. Shelbyville jumped out to an 11-8 lead in the set until the Bull Dogs went on a 6-1 run to lead 14-12. North maintained the lead until the Golden Bears came back to tie it at 20-20. Shelbyville took five of the next seven points to take the set.
The Bull Dogs stalled all of the Golden Bears momentum to start the fourth set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. North still kept up the intensity to go ahead 15-6. Shelbyville eventually stopped the bleeding, but it became much too late with North claiming the set and the match.
Madi Roop had 16 kills, 11 digs and a block; Sarah Bennett finished with eight kills and three blocks; Madison White added 12 kills and three blocks; Reagan Kane tallied 47 assists and three aces;Ava McKinney had 26 digs and two aces, Elizabeth Rayburn had 13 digs; Grace Chapman added 11 digs and Logan Branstetter finished with seven kills to lead the Bull Dogs.
North will play in the Franklin Central tournament on Saturday. The Bull Dogs game with Seymour that was postponed Tuesday because of the Seymour volleyball team in quarantine is officially canceled.
