photo by: Kim North

Union Local’s Ameera Saunders (24) leaps high for one of her seven kills Monday night as Martins Ferry’s Nicole Hammerquist (23) and Olivia Harkness (10) defend. The Jets soared to a 25-20, 25-21 and 26-24 sweep of the visiting Purple Riders inside ‘The Hangar’ on the Union Local campus in Morristown.

MORRISTOWN – Union Local started a huge week Monday night with a sweep of visiting Martins Ferry inside ‘The Hangar’ in high school volleyball action. The Jets prevailed by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 26-24 in a thrilling three-set match.

Union Local (9-4) entered the match in sixth place in the recent OVAC Class 4A standings, but the Jets can make up a lot of ground before the Oct. 2 cut-off date for the playoffs. Monday night got them off to a good start.

“I’m not worried about the OVACs, I’m just worried about one game at a time … one game at a time,” admitted Union Local head coach Kaye Sechrest. “We’ve got a tough week this week. This was a good win for us tonight, but we go to Oak Glen tomorrow (Tuesday night), Cambridge on Thursday and host Buckeye Trail on Saturday.

“They don’t get any easier.”

The Golden Bears are No. 2 in the OVAC Class 4A race and are second in the latest W.Va. Class AA standings. The Bobcats are a place behind the Jets, while the Warriors are fourth in the OPVAC Class 3A standings.

Monday night’s match wasn’t an easy one, either.

“They are a good team. They beat us at their place earlier this season,” Sechrest said of the Purple Riders (8-4). “You’ve just got to play one point at a time. Our girls played hard, so did theirs. It was a good match.”

Deadlocked at 10 in the first set, Union Local scored seven of the next 10 points to take a 17-13 advantage, but Martins Ferry battled back to within 21-19 before the Jets reeled off four of the final five points for a 25-20 victory.

The second set saw the rivals knotted nine times, the last at 19, before the hosts tallied six of the final eight markers for a 25-21 nod.

In the final set, the Purple Riders took a 6-1 lead to start and led 9-3 before the Jets mounted their third comeback.

The match was tied at 14, 17, 18 and 24 before Saunders ended things with her seventh kill of the match.

“It was a great match,” Martins Ferry head coach Jaela Koller said. “If we’re going to lose, I’d rather it be in a battle and not in an old-fashioned butt whooping.

“In game one and game three we came out alive and we started on top, but we’ve got to be able to finish,” Koller explained. “I keep saying that we get stuck in quicksand, and it takes us a while to get out.”

What was Sechrest’s post-game message to her team?

“Go home, get some sleep, visualize and get ready for Oak Glen.”

Laken Vinskovich turned in a superb performance with 16 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Saunders added 11 digs and four aces to her kill total, while Delaney Butler charted 23 assists and seven digs. Alli Kellaway finished with 10 digs and a pair of service aces.

For Martins Ferry, Giana Chirpas had 13 kills and two service aces, while Maddie Lucas finished with 12 digs and half-a-dozen kills. Nicole Hammerquist added nine kills and a trio of blocks. Olivia Harkness added three dozen assists and three aces. SJ Koller had 26 digs.

Martins Ferry, which held down the No. 2 spot in the latest OVAC Class 3A race, welcomes undefeated and top-ranked Beaver Local to Tolbert Gymnasium on Tuesday.