Jennings County’s Avynn Belding spikes the ball against Columbus East’s Caroline Frost during a match in the Orange Pit at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
After falling behind Columbus East two-sets-to-none Monday night, Jennings County coach Toby Harrell had a message for his team.
“I basically told them, ‘It’s your choice. You can fold and we walk home, or we can step up and fight back and at least go down swinging,” Harrell said.
The Panthers came back swinging. They pulled out the final three sets to rally for an 18-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 17-15 Hoosier Hills Conference win.
East had two match points leading 14-12 in the fifth set, but a serving error and a hitting error allowed Jennings to tie it. After a Caroline Frost kill gave the lead back to the Olympians, the Panthers finished it off with Chloe Haeufle serving.
“She did what she needed to do,” Harrell said. “She was controlled, and she’s a great player. That was huge for her.”
Haefule also had served to close out the fourth set. She was playing in place of Abrey Belding, who had sprained an ankle.
Meanwhile, East (5-3, 1-2) played the final 3 1/2 sets without standout middle hitter Gabby Dean, who had an ice pack on her shoulder.
“It was a big difference, a 6-4 difference,” East coach Ellyn McIntosh said. “But it’s not an excuse. Jennings County is a good team, and they just outplayed us tonight.”
“It was definitely a good win,” Harrell said. “I hated the situation that both teams were in, seeing Gabby get hurt and then seeing my outside go down. A win is a win, and I’m super pumped about it, but it definitely isn’t the win I want. I want them healthy.”
In a back-and-forth first set, the Panthers (8-2, 3-1) led 17-15 when the Olympians got a sideout and three conscutive points from Maddie Cline, the last two coming on kills by Caroline Frost. After Jennings stopped the run to cut the lead to 19-18, East’s Kenzie Foster served five straight points to close out the set.
The Panthers jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the second set before a sideout and seven consecutive points with Cline at the service line. With the Olympians leading 24-19, Jennings got a sideout and four straight service points from Abrey Belding to tie it before East got a sideout and a point to take a two-sets-to-none lead.
In the third set, the Olympians stretched a 3-2 lead to 7-2 with Cline serving. East led 21-20 when the Panthers went on a 4-0 run with Megan Vogel at the service line. The Olympians scored the next two points before an East hitting error gave Jennings the set.
The fourth set went much like the third, East again jumped out to a lead, this time at 16-10 and 18-12 before the Panthers came back to tie it at 19-19. The Olympians went back in front 21-19, but Jennings scored four in a row to even the match.
Charlee Barlow pounded 17 kills, Zoie Suhre had six blocks, Taylor Mowery notched 30 digs and Abrey Belding served three aces to lead the Panthers. Avynn Belding added 13 kills.
Frost had 24 kills and five solo and three assist blocks to lead thre Olympians. Erin Williams recorded 50 assists, Kenzie Foster notched 33 digs and Chloe Gilley served three aces.
“Maddie and Frost were our go-tos after that, but we were just kind of looking for a bigger presence in the middle,” McIntosh said. “We needed one extra hitter it seemed like to give Maddie a break when she was getting tired or somebody to relieve Frost. But those two stepped up and they played a big role for us.”
