Brock Netter, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE — If you go back to Miami Trace’s volleyball inception, you’ll find that the Panthers had trouble winning conference championships.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
The team has won a handful of sectional titles in tournament play, but the spot on that banner that denotes league championships had remained empty for quite some time.
However, after Tuesday’s straight-set victory over Chillicothe — a 25-16, 25-13, 25-23 final — Miami Trace has won three of the last four Frontier Athletic Conference championships.
That banner now looks just a little more full.
“When I took over the program eight years ago, we set out to change the culture and bring a championship mentality,” Miami Trace coach Doug Mace said. “It’s a pretty awesome feeling, and I’m so happy for all of our kids who have been a part of this, especially our seniors. They’ve done so much work to push this program to where it is today and I’m just so proud of these kids.”
Miami Trace (15-4, 9-0 FAC) never trailed in the first set, but Chillicothe certainly made things as interesting as possible for awhile.
An ace from Courtney Carter put the Panthers ahead 8-4, but the Cavaliers fought back behind Addison Smith and Olivia Beatty to tie the score at 10-10. Later tied at 12, the Panthers put their foot on the gas as kills from Addyson Butts and Sara Dawson helped spark a 10-1 run to claim a 1-0 match lead.
Keeping that gained momentum, the Panthers never let up in the second.
After being tied 6-6, MT shot out on a 9-2 run behind Carter, Butts, Sophia Parsons and Mary Pfeifer to take a 15-8 edge. The advantage later reached double digits before the Panthers closed out a 2-0 match lead.
“The first two sets were great. We did a good job of staying aggressive and limiting our mistakes as much as possible,” Mace said. “Our confidence was really high, though it’s always a little tricky heading into a third set because you have that sense of, ‘Hey, we already have this one in the bag so the third set should be easy.'”
Chillicothe wasn’t going away quietly in the third and gave the Panthers all they could handle.
After 10 ties and six lead changes, the Cavaliers managed to score three straight points, capped by an ace from Serenity Kennedy, to take a 19-16 advantage.
Both teams continued to trade points, but that’s when Butts completely took over.
With every chance the Panthers received, they looked to their sophomore standout and she delivered. Trailing 22-20, Butts delivered on four straight kill opportunities to push her team across the finish line with a championship in hand.
“She’s put in so much work during the offseason in order to become the player she is this year,” Mace said. “We had her on JV last year and it took her some time to just get acclimated to the speed of the high school game. But she found a really good club team that helped her work on her game, and it’s paid off. We have a lot of seniors on our team, so it’s nice that we’ll have her for a couple more years. She’s a special player.”
Miami Trace wraps up FAC play with the chance to win a Gold Ball on Thursday, hosting Washington, before ending its regular season on Monday against Greeneview. Chillicothe is at Jackson on Thursday, and ends its regular season slate with Trimble next Wednesday.
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