Ottawa-Glandorf players celebrate scoring a point during Monday night’s Division III sectional semifinal at Bluffton.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
BLUFFTON — The high school volleyball season is nearing an end with the postseason getting underway Monday night with Bluffton taking on Ottawa-Glandorf. It had been 10 years to the day since Bluffton had defeated the Titans and the guests were looking to extend that at least one more year.
The evening looked as if that tide would change as the Pirates went up early and led by a 9-2 margin, but the Titans drew close before falling 25-22 in set on. However, O-G rallied back to take the next three 25-20, 25-24 and 25-22 to move on in the Division III tournament. The Titans will take on Parkway at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday at Coldwater.
“It took a little bit to get our serve and serve receive going on, but once I get going, we’re kind of gone to a nice rhythm. Bluffton is a great team they sort of very aggressive at aggressively at us so I’m proud of how our girls passed the ball and I thought we served really well.” O-G coach Amber Miller said.
There were a few highlights for the Pirates as Gracie Yarnell collected her 1,000th career assist. Yarnell had 30 assists on the night to go along with 15 digs.
The trend started to repeat itself in set two, with the Pirates leading 7-3 on a miscue. With setter Addy Bellman (43 assists) starting to consistently set Fry, Kaufman and Ella White (13 kills), a 7-0 span got the Titans in front. O-G led the rest of the set, though Bluffton got within 20-19 on a kill by Olivia Hobensack but a service error (10 for the match) allowed O-G to close with a 5-1 spurt to tie the match on a stuff by Kaufman.
“Katie (Kauffman) (11 kills, 4 blocks) provides some nice blocking, Bluffton has some really strong hitters; we really wanted to key on Grandey and Stackhouse.” Miller said.
After battling to a 6-6 tie to begin the third set, a missed Bluffton serve gave the visitors the lead for good and they used several small spurts to eventually take a 2-1 edge in sets on a Pirate hitting error (27 for the match).
The fourth set was tight the whole way, with O-G either tied or in front the entire time. Ayla Grandey provided a pair of ace serves and a trio of kills in the set for the hosts to keep the Pirates close. The Titans had the biggest bulge of 24-19 before a Bluffton 3-point mini-spurt forced Titans coach Amber Miller to call time. That did the trick as a Pirate missed serve sealed the match.
“They are a great serving team, we wanted to make sure that you know are our best passers are in the best position, so yeah, we make some adjustments with our services,” Miller said. “I’m really proud of how our girls played today, and I want to congratulate Gracie Yarnell for for getting her a 1000th assist tonight.”
Ayla Grandey delivered 17 kills, Kendall Stackhouse 10 and Karlie Lopez five for the hosts as Gracie Yarnell had 34 assists. Bluffton ends its season 18-5.
David Boninsegna wrote this story for The Lima News. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
