Brock Netter, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LUCASVILLE — It can always be a little tricky playing an opponent for the third time, especially one you’ve already beaten twice in a season.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Improvements have been made, familiarity can be a downfall and one team is playing loose, free and with house money.
However, all of those elements mean nothing to Wheelersburg. The Pirates (23-1) simply showed up, did what they do best and took home a straight-set victory over Northwest by a 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 final in a Division III district semifinal on Tuesday.
“[Northwest] Coach [Jennifer] South has done a really fine job taking over a program that graduated a lot of seniors and returned little experience,” Wheelersburg coach Allen Perry said. “They’re a really young team, but very competitive and they’ve improved a lot. They had a good season and it’s tough to beat the same team three times. They didn’t make it easy, but we got the job done.”
Although the Mohawks (13-11) put up a valiant effort, they simply didn’t have anyone to stop Madie Mays.
The towering senior hitter spent the evening wearing down the Mohawks’ defense with one thunderous kill after another, racking up 18 of them of the night.
“I thought Madie played such a great game, and Makeena [Walker] set her up really nicely,” Perry said. “That was her go-to today and they had a really nice connection going which really helped put us over the top.”
Mays started out with a pair of kills, combined with a kill from Walker and an ace by Kiera Kennard to help the Pirates jump ahead 10-4 in the first set. Walker, Lexie Rucker and Grace Perkins continued to steer the ship in the right direction, pushing the lead to 20-11 before later closing the game out with a kill from Rucker to claim a 1-0 match lead.
Mays racked up a pair of kills alongside three more from Rucker to open the second, jumping out to a 9-4 Pirate lead. Rucker served an ace, Walker, Madison Whittaker, Grace Woodward added kills and Kennard ripped an ace as the lead reached double-digits late in the set before ‘Burg went up 2-0.
“Seeing Northwest for a third time, you realize how much better they’ve gotten,” Perry said. “Their hitters are much better and hit with a lot more authority and confidence. They’ve taken advantage of some teams this year, and if you have a bad defensive night, they can get you.”
Northwest poured everything it had into the third set early and hung with Wheelersburg for a little while. While Mays and Perkins notched one kill after another, the Mohawks turned scrappy defense into offense with kills from Karleigh South and Faith Jewett, followed by an ace from Lauren Redoutey to take a 9-8 lead.
But later tied at 10-10, Mays powered a kill and that started the beginning of the end.
She added two more alongside Woodward, Whittaker and Rucker to spearhead a 10-1 run and help seal a win to advance.
“We didn’t match Northwest’s intensity to open the third and the girls had to be challenged to match it,” Perry said. “The fire wasn’t there, but it’s up to them to have that fire, and they eventually got it to go on that run to put the game away.”
After Mays’ final numbers, Walker dished out 38 assists on the evening. Rucker added 10 kills and eight digs, and Whittaker added eight digs as well.
Wheelersburg advances to a Division III district final and will face Southeastern, who defeated Alexander to advance on Tuesday, at 11 a.m., Saturday at Waverly High School.
“We have a lot of homework to do, but we’ll come ready to play our ‘A’ game and hope to bring back another title to Wheelersburg,” Perry said.”
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