Columbus East showed why it is one of the top teams in the Hoosier Hills Conference when they faced Jennings County on Tuesday night.
The Olympians controlled the match from start to finish to pick up a 25-9, 25-19, 25-19 victory.
East had its ups and downs during this match. It allowed some small runs for the Panthers in the second and third sets, but ultimately, Jennings was no match for the Olympians.
“I liked how much depth we have. We’re able to go to the bench and bring kids in,” East assistant coach Terry Sweasy said. “However, I felt like they played better against Jeffersonville than against Jennings County, and that might be credit to Jennings County.”
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The Olympians (3-0, 2-0) had little standing in their way in the first set. Cadence Gilley served a couple aces to put them ahead 4-1, and they extended the lead to 7-2 when the Panthers (3-7, 0-4) took a timeout. Jennings got to within 11-6, thanks to some net violations by the Olympians. That didn’t matter much to East, which went on a 14-3 scoring run to close it out.
The Olympians extended the lead to 5-1 in the second set until the Panthers woke up to reel off six straight points to lead 7-5. That lead was short lived when East rallied for five straight points to lead 10-7. The Olympians coasted for the rest the set, but Jennings tried to put up a fight trailing 21-14 to cut it to 22-19, but the damage was already done, and East secured the last three points of the set.
The third set wasn’t anything different for the Olympians. They came aggressive out of the gate to lead 8-1, but the Panthers came back to get it to within 10-8 that forced East to call timeout. Following the timeout, the Olympians turned the intensity on and never looked back, leading 17-10 that forced Jennings into a timeout. The Panthers eventually got it to within 22-18 later on in the set, but East was able to close it out.
Katy Jordan tallied 23 assists and 10 digs; and Saige Stahl finished with six kills, two blocks and two aces for the Olympians. Lexia Capes had eight digs and two aces, Libby Dippold pounded six kills and two blocks, Kenzie Foster added 11 digs, Gabby Dean had 10 kills and Cadence Gilley served two aces for East.
