photo by: Andrew Grimm

Buckeye Local’s Jenna DelVecchio blocks a ball against Brooke during their regular-season game on Monday.

CONNORVILLE – Buckeye Local volleyball coach Abbey Wilson has been waiting to see her team be able to finish sets and matches.

Her Panthers had been competitive in their first two times on the court, but were not able to close against Harrison Central and Indian Creek last week.

Monday night, that changed.

After splitting the first two sets against visiting Brooke, and seeing a big lead get away in the pivotal third set, Buckeye Local found its finishing touch and eked out the set win, then pulled away in the second half of the fourth set to close the deal on their first win of the season on Kara Bright Court.

“We found a way to finish,” Wilson said. “That is something we have struggled with, when we’ve been ahead in the past it seems like we always let a team come back, but this time they got together and held on. Brooke is a solid team, so I am happy with our mindset and ability to be able to finish finally.

“It’s good for us to get the first win out of the way, build some confidence and for the girls to see they can do it.”

After falling 25-14 in the opening set, the Panthers (1-2) recovered with a 25-13 victory in the second to even things up.

In the third set, the Panthers’ trouble closing things nearly re-emerged as they led 24-18, but watched the Bruins (1-4) rattled off six-straight to knot the score up.

However, the Panthers responded with the next two points to take a 26-24 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth set, the teams battled hard early, exchanging the lead and being tied several times, the last stalemate being 12-12. From there, though, the Panthers scored 12 of the next 15 points to take control, and this time did not allow a Bruins rally as they closed out the match with a 25-17 fourth set victory.

“We started off so slow, I don’t know why, but we got it together after that,” Wilson said. “I’m very proud of the girls for that. We did a little bit of a different rotation and I think they all liked it, it felt like we were finally all in sync.”

Despite the loss, Bruins coach Dee Parr saw some positives her youtful team can take from Monday and their early season matches.

“We have a really young team, we only have three seniors and two juniors and we have eight freshmen,” Parr said. “They are really talented … it’s a matter of us putting it all together. We’re still working on our dynamic. We’ve improved a lot of from last year, we’re getting there. We’ve evolved culture wise as a team, now it’s a matter of putting it together on the court.”

Leading the Panthers was Jenna DelVecchio with 16 kills, 16 digs and four aces, Brooke Kovalski had 12 kills and a block, Karlie Lander had 15 assists, Sammi Westfall tallied 11 assists, while Karlie Glover had 18 digs.

UP NEXT

Brooke: Takes a trip up Route 2 to Oak Glen tonight.

Buckeye Local: Heads up Ohio 7 to Toronto tonight.