Union Local Volleyball Captures District Championship Over Coshocton
photo by: Nick Henthorn
CAMBRIDGE – The Union Local Jets are returning to regionals after defeating Coshocton on Wednesday in their Division V, East District Championship bout at Cambridge High School.
In a battle between top-seeded Union Local and two-seeded Coshocton, the Jets prevailed in four sets, 25-19, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23.
“They work hard,” Union Local head coach Kaye Sechrest said. “I am so proud of these girls. Some of our seniors and some of our juniors- Laken [Vinskovich], Oliva [Wortman], Emma [Yager] and Ella [Pietranton] were all on the team that went to state two years ago, so we have that experience. These girls never say die, that’s one thing I can say about them.
“They work hard, and they do it. Coshocton’s a good team, we saw them five times this summer. What can you say, they’re a good team, somebody had to lose.”
Wortman led the Jets in kills with 15, while Vinskovich followed with seven. Delaney Butler had 18 assists and Alayna Logan 14. Brooklyn Burley led the team with 20 digs followed by Yager (15) and Butler (13). Vinskovich had four blocks and Ameera Saunders had three. Myah Martin tallied four aces.
Union Local leapt ahead 8-1 in the first set before a timeout from Coshocton. Olivia Wortman smashed a big kill to put the Jets up 19-10 and prompt another timeout. Union Local won 25-19 on a Coshocton kill attempt that landed out of bounds.
The script flipped in the second set. Coshocton took an early lead, 6-5, and followed that with a 6-1 run to put them ahead 12-6. A mashup of self-inflicted wounds by the Jets- including multiple attack errors- ballooned the lead to 20-11, and Coshocton tied the game with a set victory.
The final two sets came down to the wire, but the Jets pulled them both out despite Coshocton building sizeable leads at points and eliciting raucous responses from their bench and crowd.
“That’s just the way that they are,” Sechrest said of her team. “They just keep pushing and pushing. They have the confidence, we have the ability, the tools, the players, we just need to get them all in the right place and on the same page as we move on.”
The third set rarely saw a lead greater than one or two points, but Union Local squeezed out a win after a Coshocton attack error tallied the deciding point.
Coshocton built a lead as big as five points, 19-14, in the fourth set, but the Jets battled back to tie the set 19-19, and a kill by Laken Vinskovich put Union Local ahead 21-20. An attack error put Union Local ahead by two, but Coshocton took three of the next four volleys to tie things 23-23.
Vinskovich made a heady play to set up match point for Union Local, dunking an errant Coshocton set that wandered too close to the net. Vinskovich and Ameera Saunders combined on a block that found the floor for the Jets’ 25th point, and the district championship.
“That was one of our goals, to get back to regionals,” Sechrest said. “We made it, I don’t know who we play, we’ll find out later on tonight and go from there.”
Union Local next plays on Oct. 30 at Jim Myers Gymnasium in Logan, Ohio.