Senior Lilly Camacho came through for the Lady Patriots when they needed a kill the most.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Sophomore Zoe Ayette sparked a run for the Lady Patriots in the second set from the serving line.
By Drew Terhall
Dailyadvocate.com
PLEASANT HILL — It was an exciting atmosphere at Newton High School for the OHSAA Division VI Southwest Volleyball District semifinal game. Fans for Tri-Village and Houston brought the energy in an exciting tournament match between the two teams. But, the fifth seeded Lady Patriots fell short and lost 3-1 to the ninth seeded Lady Wildcats on Oct. 24.
Head coach Taylor Rawlings said the little mistakes the team made was the downfall in this match. Houston gained momentum from those mistakes and got the Lady Patriots on their heels.
“We waited a little too long to fight back. There were moments where I saw my team and there were moments where I was like, ‘Where did we go?’. It was little things that we practiced all week that we didn’t do tonight that really hurt us in the long run,” Rawlings said. “But, I’m very proud of my girls.”
It was a sluggish start for Tri-Village. They were a step slow getting to the ball. Houston took advantage of that with their hitting and serving to gain a small lead. The Lady Patriots fought through the slow start to keep the set within range of a small run to gain a lead.
Houston made the effort plays late in the set to win the first set, 25-12.
Then it was all Tri-Village in the second set. They turned it around and got out to a big lead to start the set. Sophomore Zoe Ayette sparked a run from the serving line and senior Lilly Camacho was overwhelming the Houston defense with her powerful hitting.
After playing a cleaner second set, Tri-Village tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-12 set win.
Rawlings said like they have all season, they’ve shown how dangerous they can be. They just have not been consistent playing at that level all season.
“That is how we can always play. It’s just a matter of what team shows up to play and I don’t think we consistently did that tonight. That’s why it was such a back and forth battle,” Rawlings said.
Tri-Village looked like they were going to win another set early as they went out to a 10-5 lead. They were in a groove and earning their points. But a few mistakes by Tri-Village opened the door for Houston. Before you knew it, Houston tied the set at 11-11.
Tri-Village went right back to work and battled for the rest of the set. Rawlings said the team missed out on capitalizing on Houston’s mistakes when they needed to the most. Not coming away with points on those key moments kept the Lady Wildcats in the set.
Once they got momentum, Houston was hard to stop. The Lady Wildcats closed out the set and stole the third set, 25-21.
The fourth set was a back and forth battle. Each team matched each other’s runs and didn’t let up. Houston started to cover Camacho better sending two hitters her way every time she went up for an attack. But that didn’t stop her as she came away with some key kills for the Lady Patriots.
Rawlings said some of the small things the team didn’t do was get two sets of hands on some of the attacks from some great Houston hitters. They also didn’t cover the tipped attack well. Those small mistakes gave Houston momentum.
Tri-Village was down 22-23 and called a timeout. The Lady Patriots regrouped and grabbed a 24-23 lead before Houston called a timeout.
Tri-Village got the two kills needed to put pressure on Houston. But out of that timeout, Houston calmed down and got the three points they needed to win the set 26-24 and take the match.
The Lady Patriots end their season with a 12-12 record and an 8-3 WOAC record. Rawlings said she was happy with how the season went as they played a tough non-conference schedule to get them ready for these tournament moments.
The team graduates three seniors in Camacho, Lauren Porter and Ava Pipenger. Rawlings said those three seniors have been great for the team and will be missed next season.
“Our three seniors, a tough loss for us. They’re great kids and we will surely miss them next year,” Rawlings said.
They will return a bulk of their team with playing so many young players. Rawlings said the team has a bright future ahead of them for the upcoming season.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].
