Columbus East was happy to get back in its own gym Thursday night, and the Olympians made their return a winning one.
Class 4A No. 6 East, which had played its first few home games of the season at Southside Elementary while its gym floor was being replaced, cruised to a 25-16, 25-12, 25-19 volleyball win against Columbus North.
“It was awesome to be home, and it was awesome to have the student section the way they were,” East junior Saige Stahl said. “It was just an awesome environment tonight, and we look forward to many more games just like this and hopefully end up playing on our home court in the semistate.”
The Olympians (20-3) led 4-2 in the first set before pulling away. Reese Whitehead, Katy Jordan and Kenzie Foster each had four-point runs at the service line to give East a 21-8 lead. Grace Chapman got the Bull Dogs back to within 23-16 with a four-point serving run of her own, but East got back-to-back kills from Gabby Dean to finish off the set.
North (9-17) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set behind a kill from Sarah Bennett and an ace from Reagan Kane. But the Olympians got a sideout, then five consecutive points with Chloe Gilley at the service line. Then after a Bull Dog point an East sideout, Whitehead served four straight points for an 11-3 Olympian lead, and East went on to take a two-sets-to-none lead, ending the set on a kill from Maddie Cline.
“I thought we came out with the energy, and I thought we came out really strong.” Stahl said. “We need to keep pushing through all sets with a lot of energy. I think we played really well as a team and shared the ball really well.”
In the third set, North took a 9-7 lead on back-to-back aces by Emily Stair. But trailing 10-8, the Olympians, with Foster at the service line, regained the lead at 12-10. The set was tied at 14-14 when East got a sideout, a kill from Saige Stahl and back-to-back blocks from Dean to take the lead for good. The Olympians finished the match on a kill from Stahl.
“The third set was not exactly what I was looking for,” East coach Ellyn McIntosh said. “We just made too many errors, too many mistakes on our end, too much miscommunication. It’s still not the best volleyball I’ve seen out of them, but I’m proud of the way they started.”
Stahl pounded 16 kills, Katy Jordan recorded 31 assists, Dean and Libby Dippold each had three assist blocks, Chloe Gilley notched 10 digs and Dean and Whitehead each served two aces to lead East.
Also for the Olympians, Dean tallied 10 kills and two aces, Dippold added seven kills, and Whitehead had five kills and two assist blocks. Stahl also had two assist blocks, Cadance Gilley contributed seven digs and one ace.
“It was amazing to be back out here, especially with all the fans and everything,” Dean said. “I think it just helped our energy so much. It was a really cool experience.”
Bennett led the Bull Dogs with seven kills, two blocks and three aces. Logan Branstetter pounded seven kills, and Grace Chapman notched 10 digs.
Also for North, Kane tallied one block and eight digs, and Kennedy Horn had one block. Sydney Cooper added four digs and two aces, and Emily Stair served two aces.
“We came to play our game,” North coach Jenna Ortega said. “That’s the best we could do. (East is) a good team, and we did what we could do. Really that third game, I thought we were pulling it together, and we did our job. There’s nothing you can do when a team that’s that good hits the right spots.”
