Jets Top Trojans In District Semifinal Thriller

Kim North

CADIZ - Fans attending Wednesday night's Ohio Division III Eastern District Tournament semifinal volleyball match between Union Local and Tuscarawas Valley were treated to some bonus action as the two talented squads went back and forth.

When the fifth-seeded Trojans hit the ball into the net, the No. 2 Jets (21-4) had willed their way to an incredible 17-15 victory in the fifth - and final - set to win the best-of-5 match, 3-2. Union Local, which reached the Final 4 last year in Dayton, won the first set 25-21 before dropping the next two - 25-22 and 25-19 - before forcing the tiebreaker with a 25-15 victory in the fourth set.

"It never gets easier. It never does," Union Local head coach Kaye Sechrest said. "The further you go, the harder it gets."

With the elongated win, Union Local advances to Saturday's Eastern District championship match against top-seeded Meadowbrook. That match will be played inside the Geno Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School. It will start at noon. The winner moves on to regional action at Jim Myers Gymnasium at Logan High School on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. They would meet the victor of the Southeast 2 district final between Nelsonville-York and Chillicothe Southeastern.

"It was a good match on both sides. Both teams left it out on the court, and that's the way it should be," Sechrest added. "They had beaten us twice in Division II a couple of years ago.

The fifth set was deadlocked nine times, the last at 15-all before Union Local was able to close things out. The Jets made it 16-15 when a return volley rolled along the top of the net before trickling over and landing just inside the sideline. Ella Pietranton's next serve was set up for a kill, but the ball hit the middle of the net and fell to the court as the Union Local players and fans celebrated.

Union Local never trailed in the first set and snapped a 21-all stalemate by reeling off the final four points.

The second set was tied 10 times and featured 10 lead changes. It was knotted at 21 before Tuscarawas Valley's Chloe Ritter-Betz kill and ensuing ace. A kill by teammate Alayna Burrier made it 24-21 but the Jets stopped the bleeding. However, a Burrier kill gave the Trojans the win.

In the third set, the squads were tied at 16 before Tuscarawas Valley scored four of the next five points to take a 20-17 advantage. Union Local cut the margin to 20-19 on a block by Ameera Saunders, but the Trojans rattled off the final five markers for a 2-1 edge.

Sechrest wasn't sure what the big difference was between the first set and the next two.

"We just weren't hitting our spots," she noted. "These girls have that never-say-die attitude. They don't want to stop playing and I think that showed tonight"

Leading 13-11, the Jets took off with seven consecutive points and never looked back for a 25-15 win and evened the match at 2-all.

The statistics for Union Local show how balanced the team was. Of its 47 kills, Olivia Wortman led the way with 14, while Saunders added 10, Pietranton nine and Laken Vinskovich eight. Wortman and Vinskovich each logged three blocks while Pietranton and Alli Briggs had two each. Julie Broussard charted 36 of the Jets' 125 digs. Emma Yager chipped in 22, while Delaney Butler and Alayna L:ogan had 13 apiece. Vinskovich and Myah Martin added 12 and 11, respectively. Pietranton and Saunders evenly split a dozen. Butler and Logan each had 15 assists and Broussard finished with eight.

Sechrest also thought her team's experience showed.

"Playing in the Final Four last year, the girls who played last year, have that experience in big situations," she added. "I think that really helped tonight when the tough got going."