VAN WERT — It was a Putnam County League volleyball rematch in match number two at Van Wert Tuesday as Leipsic and Miller City met up.
The regular-season match went five sets with the Lady Vikings victorious.
The Vikings nearly duplicated the earlier feat, but this time, they finished off their PCL foe in four 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19.
In set one, the Vikings got off like a house of fire, grabbing a 10-1 advantage on a net violation. Back came the Wildcats with a nine-point rally, capped by a spike by Libby Erford to get within 11-10. Spurts of 4-0 and 6-0 put Leipsic up 22-13. The Wildcats were not done, stringing an eight-point splurge to get within one on a kill by Cloe Kaufman (13 kills). A tip by Danaysis Danzy (12 kills) broke the streak and a bash off the block by Jazzell Perez (7 kills) sealed the set.
“Definitely a game of runs, we would get a lead, they come back and tie it. Luckly in set four when it mattered the most we got the run.” Leipsic coach Brent Newell said.
Set two saw Leipsic build a 12-7 edge on a Danzy bomb, only to see a six-point Miller City span give them their first lead of 13-12 on a Savanna Niese ace. A hit by Morgan Verhoff (16 kills) put them up 18-14 before Alivia Jones (26 kills) led a 7-point rally (5 kills in that span) for a 21-18 edge. A Niese kill gave the Wildcats a brief one-point lead before Leipsic closed on a three-point run, capped by a double hit on the Wildcats for a two-set lead.
In the third set, Miller City got to a 12-7 bulge on a hitting error and held on to the lead the rest of the way. They had the answer as a hitting miscue reduced their deficit to a set.
In set four, after the Wildcats held a 6-3 margin on a stuff by Dani Siefker (6 kills, 6 stuffs), a kill by Jones jump-started an 8-1 run to take an 11-7 Leipsic advantage. Morgan Apple contributed to the Leipsic run with multiple kills in the set. “Morgan Apple had a great game hitting the ball for us, we need people to score points other than our kill leaders. Tonight we had some step up for us other than our big scorers.” Newell said.
Miller City got within 16-15 on a combo stuff by Siefker and Verhoff but a six-point span — four bombs by Jones leading the way — gave them a 21-15 edge. That was enough that Jones’ 26th kill finished the match. “Their outside hitter did a nice job of hitting the ball, we didn’t do a very good job of blocking the ball. I am glad we were able to come back in set four and play our game,” Newell said
Josie Otto dished out 38 assists for the Wildcats, while Kamryn Brough delivered 54 for the Vikings.
They advance to take on Crestview at 6 p.m. Thursday for the district crown.
“We will get ready for Crestview on Thursday, we are very familiar with them. I told the girls we won’t worry about that until tomorrow. We played them midseason. They are a great program, and we are going to give it our best shot.” Newell said.
Dave Boninsegna wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
