Logan Branstetter
Thursday night’s volleyball contest between Columbus North and Jennings County was more than just a match.
The Bull Dogs prevailed 25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13 over the Panthers in thrilling fashion. In reality, there was a bigger battle Thursday night — breast cancer.
For her senior project, North’s Logan Branstetter is raising money to help with the fight against breast cancer. Thursday night was Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Both teams wore pink uniforms, and coaches and fans in attendance wore “Serving for a Cure” t-shirts at the game. The money raised Thursday through a gift basket raffle, a bake sale, t-shirt sales and donations in general will go to Jill Bless, the wife of former North football coach Tim Bless.
“They’re been a lot of people in my life and in my family that had breast cancer,” Branstetter said. “I know the Bless family really well. Tim coached my brother (Mason) all four years of high school and Jill is huge in the community, so I decided once I had my mind set on breast cancer that she’d be a good recipient of the funds. It worked out really well. They’re super grateful and a great family.”
The Bull Dogs and Panthers battled closely in the first set, but North prevailed winning the three of the final four points in the set to lead the match 1-0.
In the second set, Jennings pulled ahead by scoring six straight points in the middle of the set to tie the match at 1-1.
In the third set, the Bull Dogs found themselves down 20-17 in the set. North rallied by scoring eight of the next nine point to move ahead 2-1 in the match.
In the fourth set, the Bull Dogs led 13-12, but Jennings came back to claim six straight points to lead 18-13. The gap was big enough to hold off the Bull Dogs to tie the match at 2-2 heading into a fifth set tiebreak.
In the fifth set, the Panthers scored four straight points to pull ahead 12-10, but the Bull Dogs scored five of the final six points to claim the match.
Emily Stair led North with 15 digs and three aces, while Reese Edwards recorded 20 assists, and Kaitlin White had five blocks. Also for the Bull Dogs, Emma Burns tallied 18 assists and seven digs, Karen Dutro had one block and two aces and Katelynn Mabis added seven digs.
Next up for North (7-11) is a home matchup against New Albany on Tuesday. Jennings (12-7) will compete in the Lawrenceburg Invitational on Saturday.
