By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — The sixth seed Ansonia volleyball team had their season end on Oct. 23 in the OHSAA Division VI Volleyball Southwest District Semifinals. The Lady Tigers lost 3-0 to two seed Anna at Arcanum.

Head coach Lydia Schlarman said she could sense the nerves from her team heading into this game. It took about a set and a half for the team to calm down and play their game.

“The whole bus ride here, normally we are very quiet. They talked my ear off the entire bus ride here,” Schlarman said. “I could tell it was a little bit more nerves than anything. Even though coming out a little bit slow, I think our fundamentals were there.”

Anna came out in the first set and took control of it early. Ansonia was doing their best to get their hands on the Anna attacks and stay close. While the Lady Tigers were hanging tough, the Lady Rockers took the first set 25-13.

It seemed like the same would happen in the second set as Anna raced out to an 18-4 lead. But, Ansonia went on a 5-0 run to cut into the lead and eventually got the deficit down to single digits.

Schlarman said the team’s play as been like a roller coaster this season and they worked on finishing games in practice. In the second set, they started to get their feet underneath them and gave Anna a fight.

Anna still won the second set, 25-14, but Ansonia gained some momentum in the match.

That momentum carried into the third set as Ansonia stayed close to Anna. The Lady Tigers forced some lead changes early in the set.

Once Anna gained an 11-9 lead, the Lady Rockets started to separate themselves. Schlarman said the team overall adjusted well to the Anna hitters. The hitters were something Ansonia have not seen a lot of this season.

“We were very scrappy tonight. I give it to Anna, they have some really good hitters that we’re not used to seeing in our conference. That was something we had to adjust to on the fly,” Schlarman said.

Anna won the third and final set 25-13.

Ansonia ends the season with a 12-12 record and a 7-4 WOAC record. The team graduates seniors Malarie Butts, Lauren Warner, Gabby Leeper, Aleah Shilt and Ava Erwin.

Schlarman said this senior class was young with experience following a big senior class. But they still stepped up when they needed to for their team.

“They stepped up well. I love all of those girls so much. It was hard to watch them walk off the court today. We’re definitely going to miss them,” Schlarman said.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].