An early season clash lived up to the anticipation.
Bellefontaine and Indian Lake squared off in Central Buckeye Conference volleyball action Tuesday, with the visiting Chieftains battling their way to a four-set win.
Bellefontaine goes to 5-0 on the season, and the Lakers are now 4-1. The Chieftains won the opener 25-18. The next two both required extra points. The second set went to 30-28 in favor of the Lakers.
Bellefontaine then won 26-24 and and 25-22 to avoid a tiebreaker.
“I’m really proud of our girls. We knew it was going to be a battle,” said BHS coach Tara Phelps. “I think we were excited for the opportunity to come out and play a competitive team like that. I’m very thrilled that our girls showed up and everybody contributed.”
She noted that “we get excited to play close teams and teams that we know. We’ve been in the gym since mid July doing what we need to do to be prepared for moments like this.”
Madi Zedeker had 44 assists and 13 digs and Jilian Ullom had 27 digs. Ava Layman had 14 kills and 14 digs. Presley Vigansky had five kills and a solo block, and Kaeleigh Flora had a key solo block, 10 digs and six kills.
Zedeker had three aces, with two each by Ullom, Layman, and Vigansky.
Senior Kelsie Snapp had 25 kills and 27 digs and was 23-of-24 from the service line.
Indian Lake coach Missy Mefford said, “There’s just some things that we are going to have to work on as a team. I thought we played really well, and took them to four sets. We just have to clean up a few of the errors that we gave them.”
She added that it is still early in the season and “we need to just tune in and once we work on a few things, we’re going to have a great season.”
Courtney Alstaetter had 17 kills and Cami Bailey 15 for the Lakers, with eight by Kit Miller and seven from Alivia Kinney.
Riley Ross had 25 digs, Bailey made 14 and Addy Beck had 10. Addyson Roby made 51 assists on the night.
In the first set, each team scored two points. Indian Lake used a short run to go ahead 7-5, but Bellefontaine came back with three straight points. After two for the Lakers, Bellefontaine won five of the next six rallies for a 13-10 advantage.
Indian Lake stayed within a few points before another run by the Chiefs put them ahead by six, 20-14.
After a timeout, Bellefontaine won four of the next six exchanges. Indian Lake fended it off a couple times before giving up set point on a kill by Snapp.
Bellefontaine took a 5-1 lead in the second set, but the Lakers drew even. Things went back and forth with one or two points for each side at a time and six ties. The Lakers used a 3-0 run to edge ahead 16-15, then stayed even or in front until going up 21-19 on a Bellefontaine error.
The Chiefs got up to 24-23, but the Lakers won the next two points. A hit by Flora tied at 25. Errors by both sides resulted in points but not the two-point margin needed to win until Indian Lake finally ended it at 30-28.
The third set saw more back and forth through the first half. Indian Lake eventually took leads at 18-16 and 20-18. An ace by Miller for the Lakers made it 23-20. Bellefontaine then won three straight. After one on the Lakers’ side, Bellefontaine got three more to close it out and go up 2-1 in the match.
Indian Lake got going to start the fourth set, taking a 6-3 lead before a five-point run by the Chiefs put them in front.
Things returned to the back-and-forth style as the Chiefs nursed a narrow lead. Indian Lake then used small runs to go up 14-13 and 18-17.
After a Chiefs block won a point, Snapp had five service points. Indian Lake made one last charge and got within two points before the vistitors claimed the final point on a kill by Layman.
Indian Lake won the JV A match 25-18, 24-26, 25-20. The JV B team won 25-4, 25-18.
Bellefontaine is at Ben Logan tonight, and Indian Lake will be at Tecumseh.
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In other volleyball play Tuesday:
Jonathan Alder 3, Ben Logan 1
Ben Logan lost at home to Jonathan Alder in CBC play.
The Lady Raiders won the first set 25-22. Alder then won 25-10, 25-18 and 25-17.
For Ben Logan, Georgia Daniels had 10 kills, and Summer Cline had eight. Kylie Harner had 13 assists.
Ben Logan is 2-2 on the season.
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Bethel 3, Riverside 0
Riverside lost to visiting Bethel 25-11, 25-18, and 25-7 in Three Rivers Conference action.
Chloe Purtee had two aces and 12 digs. Zoey Ransbottom had eight assists and Kara Klinger four. Miah Carman got five kills and had six digs. Valarie Knight had four kills and Emilee Robinson had nine digs.
The Pirates (0-1 TRC, 0-5) are off until Sept. 2 when they visit Troy Christian.
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West Liberty-Salem 3, Northeastern 0
West Liberty-Salem defeated host Northeastern in Ohio Heritage Conference action.
The Lady Tigers won 25-23, 25-16, 25-14. They are now 2-1 in the OHC and 2-2 overall.
Naomi Cole had 16 kills and three aces. Lilli Heminger had six kills and two aces. Ava Poppe had five kills, and Kiersten Stoll and Reece Winters had three each.
Lyndee Harrison had 10 digs and 15 assists, with Sophia Landon getting 15 assists as well.
The Tigers JV won 25-16, 25-18.
West Liberty-Salem is back in action tonight when they host Mechanicsburg.
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Hardin Northern 3, Calvary Christian 0
Calvary Christian was swept by visiting Hardin Northern in nonleague play.
Hardin Northern won 25-10, 25-19 and 25-20.
Ava Cole had 10 kills, two blocks and six digs. Grace Zell made 15 assists and had two aces. Claire Heater had six kills. Clara McGill had six digs and a block.
Hardin Northern won the JV match in two sets.
Calvary Christian is now 1-5 on the season.
