The Lady Tigers win their third straight match by 3-1 to head to the Regional Finals.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Junior Katey Litten (left) and senior Taylor Wagner (right) were two of the many front row players making aggressive plays on the ball.
By Drew Terhall
Dailyadvocate.com
KETTERING — The Versailles volleyball program is heading back to a Regional Final. The Lady Tigers won 3-1 over one seeded Brookville in the Division V Southwest Volleyball Regional Semifinal game at Kettering Fairmont on Oct. 31.
Head coach Liz McNeilan said Brookville is a great team that she knew would challenge her team. But, her team brought the grit and the battle they gained from their MAC schedule to come away with the win.
“Every MAC competition is a battle. It doesn’t matter if you’re undefeated, it doesn’t matter if you’re 4-5 or 5-4. Whatever you are, it is a battle. It’s a mindset. The grit that comes with our conference, kudos to everybody playing in their championships,” McNeilan said.
It was a back and forth match in the first set. Both teams went through small highs and lows during the set. Once one team took a lead, the other one fought back to regain the lead or tie the set.
Versailles held a 24-22 and were a point away from getting the set win. The Lady Blue Devils didn’t back down and hit their way to a 24-25 lead.
Now playing from behind, sophomore Kiley May went to work and scored two of the final three points for Versailles. The Lady Tigers captured the set win in the end with a 27-25 win.
There were fewer lead changes in the second set, but there were bigger runs. Versailles started with a 5-1 lead before Brookville cut it down to a 5-4 game. Versailles then went on a run to lead 9-5.
The Lady Devils cleaned up their mistakes and played their way to a 19-15 lead. This time, Versailles cleaned up their mistakes that got them in the hole and started to claw back into the set.
McNeilan said this team has gained a lot of confidence throughout the season. The team didn’t panic and continued to play team volleyball down late. Versailles ended the second set on a 10-1 run to win the second set 25-20.
The Lady Tigers showed how much they have grown in this match. McNeilan said the girls have gone through the grind of the regular season and have improved their volleyball IQ.
That came in handy after dropping the third set. Brookville came out down 0-2 not ready to go home. The Lady Blue Devils got their hitting going early to take control of the set.
Versailles struggled a bit serving in this set. Some service errors stopped them from going on a run to get back in the set. Brookville kept their distance and took the third set 25-15.
Then it was Versailles turn to come out red hot. The Lady Tigers got back to their game and went on a 9-0 run before Brookville scored their first point.
Both teams got each other out of system with their serving. McNeilan said this game came down to who could make the most out of not being able to make those perfect passes.
Not only did the hitters step up, but everyone serving stepped up to keep pace with Brookville’s serving.
“I won’t lie, I was a little nervous about our serving tonight. The last two matches, our serving hasn’t been so hot. We nailed that this week in practice,” McNeilan said. “We went through a ton of serving. Got them disciplined back there. You just saw it in their eyes. They went back there with grit and confidence. They delivered tonight.”
The Lady Blue Devils were doing enough to hang around in the set. Versailles didn’t let up to allow any runs from Brookville. McNeilan said the front row played aggressive getting to the ball on their blocks and back on defense.
Once the defense turned to offense, their powerful hitting led the way to a 25-15 set win and a match win.
This was a team young with experience and some underclassmen. McNeilan said the team has stayed focus on improving all season long. She is thrilled to see their hardwork pay off by being one game away from being in the State Final Four.
“These girls have put their seat belts on, they’re learning, they’re open minded and they’re competitive. They want to learn and they want to be in the gym. Our bus was hopping on the way here. I was excited for them,” McNeilan said.
Versailles will take on Bishop Fenwick on Nov. 2 back at Kettering Fairmont at 2 p.m.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].
