John Bruce, Contributor
FRENCHTOWN — On Unioto’s Senior Night, Amber Cottrill made sure it would be one to remember.
The senior recorded her 1,000th career dig in the third set of a three-set win for the Shermans over Paint Valley (25-14, 25-9, 25-16) this past Thursday.
“Coming into this year, I thought that I had a shot at it, but I needed over 300 get there,” Cottrill said following the match. “As I started to get closer and closer, I wanted to get it at a home game. I mean, everybody wants to do that.”
Needing only 10 digs to reach the accomplishment, it appeared that she would get there early on, but with a slow-paced game, Cottrill was still four away entering the third set in her final home game.
AMBER COTTRILL, YEAR-BY-YEAR STATISTICS
| YEAR | SETS PLAYED | KILLS | ACES | BLOCKS | DIGS |
| 2016-17 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 2017-18 | 81 | 100 | 29 | 12 | 312 |
| 2018-19 | 88 | 134 | 20 | 11 | 355 |
| 2019-20 | 49 | 159 | 20 | 16 | 295 |
“It’s just a great feeling, a great feeling for me,” Cottrill added.
The win kept the Shermans within a game of second place Adena in the SVC with two league games remaining. It’s also a third straight win for the enigmatic Shermans, giving them some much-needed momentum going into a difficult Division II tournament.
Sunday, Unioto learned that it was a No. 5 seed. The team will travel to No. 4 Marietta for a sectional semifinal match on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m.
“It is definitely something we need, this momentum. You can tell that everyone is starting to get along a lot better than we did at the beginning,” Cottrill said before learning of the postseason seed. “I think it will be big going into the tournament, especially if we get the four or five seed and play a team that is similar to ours.”