A showdown came down to a rare ruling.
West Liberty-Salem hosted Fairbanks on Tuesday in Ohio Heritage Conference volleyball, with the lead for the North Division on the line.
Fairbanks rallied to win the first set 26-24, with the Lady Tigers taking the second and third 25-17 and 25-23. Fairbanks then grabbed the fourth set 25-22, sending it to a tiebreaker.
Near the end of the fifth set, it was discovered that one of the Fairbanks players had played more than maximum number of sets permitted.
The player, a sophomore, was in two of the junior varsity sets, and then in all five for the varsity match. The maximum is six.
After discussion with the officials for the match, officials at the OHSAA were contacted, and it was ruled a forfeit.
The win puts the Tigers at 12-1 in the conference and 16-3 overall, with three matches remaining.
Fairbanks is 10-1 in the OHC and 14-4 overall, and has four contests left in the regular season.
Coach Annie Kauffman of West Liberty-Salem said, “It was great volleyball by both teams. Everyone on our team contributed. We didn’t let a lot hit the floor. We started blocking their outside hitter, and they started tipping off a little bit. We just had a full team effort it was lot of fun.”
She added that “it just shows what OHC volleyball is about. You know, we’ve worked hard to better our program so we can compete with them, and we’re there, we did that tonight.”
In the first set, West Liberty-Salem took a 4-1 lead before Fairbanks bounced back and tied it.
It stayed close, then the Lady Tigers used a serving run by Lilli Heminger and a few points with Lyndee Harrison serving to take a 14-7 lead. Fairbanks called timeout at that point.
The Tigers continued to get a couple of points at a time, building their advantage to 21-10, with several kills by Naomi Cole.
The Panthers scored to regain the serve, then collected six straight, including a long rally on one point to shrink the gap to four, 21-17. WL-S won three out of five points, and needed just one more.
But the Panthers clawed back, scoring four points and after a Tigers timeout, three more to win 26-24.
The Lady Tigers won the opening rally in the second set, and freshman Reese Winters had a good serving run, as the Tigers put up five more. After Fairbanks broke through with two, the hosts got another five to lead 11-2.
They continued to maintain that distance, getting up to 16-5.
Fairbanks got a point, followed by five straight points with Maddi Sines serving, two of which were aces.
The visitors got within four points, but the Tigers steadily progressed and won the set by eight.
The Panthers had the momentum to start the third set, going up 5-1 before West Liberty-Salem came back. It stayed within a point or two before Fairbanks had a 4-0 run to lead 14-9 and have the Tigers use a timeout.
The advice worked as WL-S won six of the next seven rallies, leaving it even at 15.
The Panthers took a lead, then the Tigers roared to the finish, including a 8-1 run with Harrison serving for most of it to win 25-23 and go up 2-1.
Set number four saw the momentum seesaw with the Tigers having a couple of runs, but answered by Fairbanks each time.
It was 11-9 midway through in favor of WL-S. Fairbanks would take the lead with a 4-0 run and managed to stay just ahead of the Tigers, eventually winning by three, 25-22.
As noted, the fifth set was changed due to the rules violation.
West Liberty-Salem will have its home finale this evening against Northeastern. The sectional draw will be held on Sunday. Next week, WL-S has matches with Mechanicsburg and West Jefferson.
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Indian Lake 3, Ben Logan 1
Indian Lake defeated Ben Logan in four sets on Wednesday.
The Lakers took set one, 25-14. The Raiders tied it with a 25-21 win.
Indian Lake then won the next two both by scores of 25-21 to complete the victory.
For Indian Lake, Cami Bailey had 19 kills and two aces, Courtney Altstaetter had 11 kills and three blocks, Riley Ross had 18 digs and Addy Roby had 41 assists and 15 digs.
Kit Miller had nine kills and eight digs, and Annie Rapp seven kills and three blocks, with Addison Beck getting five digs.
For Ben Logan, Summer Cline and Abby Vance each had 13 kills. Cline also recorded seven aces.
Georgia Daniels had 11 kills and Caroline Spriggs made six. Annika Chappell had four aces. Kylie Harner made 38 assists.
Indian Lake won the JV match, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17 and the freshman contest, 25-18, 25-19.
Ben Logan (3-5 CBC, 6-13 overall) has three matches left, all at home. They face Riverside Saturday at 11 a.m., then North Union and Shawnee next week.
Indian Lake (8-1 CBC, 15-3 overall) is at St. Marys on Monday, then faces Northwestern, Graham and Allen East to finish the season.
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Ben Logan 3, Graham 0
Ben Logan swept Graham in a league match on Tuesday.
The Lady Raiders won 25-13, 25-17, 25-19.
For Ben Logan, Abby Vance had eight kills, Summer Cline seven, Georgia Daniels six, and Annika Chappell and Storm LeVan five each.
Daniels had three aces and Vance got two blocks.
Caroline Spriggs had three kills and three blocks, Kyle Harner 28 assists, and Winnie Bodin, Tanna Jacobs and Marlee Butcher had good passing.
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North Union 3, Indian Lake 1
Indian Lake lost to visiting North Union in CBC action on Tuesday.
The Wildcats won 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17.
Cami Bailey had 16 kills, Courtney Altstaetter had 11 kills and four blocks, and Kit Miller had four kills, two blocks and 20 digs for the Lakers.
Also, Alivia Kinney had two kills and three blocks, Annie Rapp had four blocks, Riley Ross had 11 digs and Addy Roby had 30 assists and 15 digs.
The junior varsity team won 25-19, 25-18.
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Jonathan Alder 3, Bellefontaine 0
Bellefontaine lost in straight sets to host Jonathan Alder on Tuesday.
Alder won by scores of 25-22, 25-14, 25-16.
Madi Zedeker had 17 assists, Kelsie Snapp had 13 kills and 10 digs, Presley Vigansky had five kills and Jillian Ullom seven digs.
The junior varsity lost 25-11, 25-16, while the freshman team lost 25-14, 25-12.
Bellefontaine (3-4 CBC, 14-4 overall) hosts Tecumseh this evening and Ponitz on Saturday at noon.
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Lehman Catholic 3, Riverside 1
Riverside lost to Lehman Catholic in Three Rivers Conference play on Tuesday.
The Cavaliers won 25-22, 20-25, 25-17, 25-16. Zoey Ransbottom had 14 assists, Makayla Hurley had 11 kills, Miah Carman had six kills and 15 digs, and Emilee Robinson had 25 digs.
The junior varsity lost 26-24. 25-18.
Riverside is 2-9 in the TRC and 2-16 overall. They will play at Miami East tonight.
