WORTHINGTON – Even though they hadn’t played in a week, the Lancaster volleyball team showed no signs of rust in their Division I tournament opener on the road against Worthington Kilbourne.
The Lady Gales came out in attack mode, winning the first set, and when their backs were against the wall in the all-important fourth set, they refused to lose. Trailing 22-7 in the fourth set, Lancaster finished on an 8-0 run to finish off an impressive 25-11, 17-25, 25-22, 25-22 win over the Wolves.
Lancaster moves on and will play for a district championship against Dublin Coffman at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Westerville Central High School.
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Sophomore setter Bella McKnight said that when things weren't going their way, the Gales always regained their focus and stayed the course.
“The first set we came out strong; the second set we knew they would come back strong, but the third and fourth sets, we attacked, and we played as a team, and that has been our thing all season; we play for each other,” McKnight said. “There were times when we played tense, but we did a really good job overcoming that and resetting and coming back together as a team.”
Lancaster (13-9) dominated the first set and stayed on point throughout. After faltering in the second set, the Gales were able to regain the momentum. The third set went back and forth until Lancaster gained control at the end.
In the final and game-winning set, the Gales found themselves trailing 22-17, but they started making plays, gained the momentum, and finished it off when McKnight had a perfect assist to Brooklyn Thompson, who hammered a kill for the game-winner, and the celebration was on.
“First of all, preparing for a tournament game for a whole week and trying to keep the kids engaged is tough,” Lancaster coach Leslie Davenport said. “We had a good week of practice mixing things up, but the one thing I will say is we were prepared, and that first set showed that, and it was great. The energy was tremendous. It was huge to get that first set.
“As far as being down in the fourth set, I don’t worry that much because we have a great mentality of coming back. We serve aggressively, and we depend a lot on key defenders to keep the ball up, and we thrive on that kind of stuff. We were able to focus in, and I told them during the timeout that one hustle play will lead to another hustle play and finish it. We did a great job of staying aggressive in that situation, and we didn’t play scared when we were down.”
McKnight finished with 40 assists, 14 digs and seven kills; Hadley Truex had 11 digs, and Thompson finished with 13 kills. Madison Holt added eight kills, and Zoey VanGundy finished with seven kills.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster volleyball rallies past Kilbourne to punch ticket to district final