Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Midway through the third set on Monday, Chillicothe’s Grace Townsend joined an elite list of standout volleyball players.
With an assist to Evelyn Hamman for a kill, the senior setter became the latest player in OHSAA history to record over 2,000 career assists.
“This isn’t possible without my teammates. It all starts with a pass from Miranda [McCloy] and Campbell [McAllister] and all of the defensive specialists to get the ball to me to get to my hitters, Grace [Tomlinson], Evelyn, Makalee [Miller] and Marisa [Stiteler],” Townsend said. “This isn’t a me thing, it’s a team thing and hitting this milestone with a new team is incredibly heartwarming. We’re a young team across the board, but I’ve seen them grow so much this year and it’s really awesome to watch.”
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
That moment belonged to Townsend. But in the end, the night belonged to Logan Elm.
The Braves (9-6) took that third set, fended off a furious Chillicothe rally late in the match and held on for a four-set victory — 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19 — in non-conference action.
“Saturday against Warren was a tough loss for us, and it showed in the first set that it was still affecting us a little bit since we started in a bad rhythm,” Logan Elm coach Aaron Ridenour said. “But the girls managed to find their confidence in the second set and never lost it through the rest of the night. They started hitting the ball with a little more authority and playing stronger defense, which helped us control the game.”
It’s no secret that Logan Elm’s advantage at the net took a hit when standout middle hitter Claire King was declared out for the season due to injury. But the Braves are embracing the “next man up” mentality.
LE spread the wealth at the net between Elliana Hutchinson, Kennedy Groff, Adelyn Smith, Macy Greene and Addison Smith, giving each a chance to shine and make their impact felt.
“I think, at first, the girls were a little unsure of what they could still accomplish with Claire going down. But I told them that our season isn’t over just because she’s out,” Ridenour said. “Our goals are still completely in front of us and we can still get a top four seed in the tournament, but we needed this win to give us some momentum and another quality win over a big opponent.”
Early in the first set, Logan Elm had the advantage as kills from Adelyn Smith, Addison Smith and Groff put the Braves ahead 9-6. However, Chillicothe (8-9) fed the ball to Hamman and the Cavaliers took off.
PHOTOS: Images from LE’s win over Chillicothe
Hamman scored the next five points via two kills, a block and back-to-back aces, to tie the game before a kill from Stiteler gave CHS a 13-12 lead. Stitler came up with a couple more kills, as did Miller and Hamman, to give the Cavs the first-set win.
Chillicothe carried that momentum into the second as it held a lead all the way to 10-9. But Groff powered down a pair of kills, as did Hutchinson, to cap a 10-2 run, putting LE ahead 16-12. Hutchinson later notched two more kills to end the set with a Brave victory.
“I think we knew that we didn’t play to our potential in the first set, but we knew that we could beat Chillicothe if we just played well,” Groff said. “We had to pick things up quickly and once we all started playing together, everything came into place.”
Townsend reached her milestone halfway through the third, bringing Chillicothe to within 14-13, and Miller logged a kill to put the Cavs up 15-14. But Hutchinson answered back with a kill, as did Macy Greene, that started a 6-0 run, swinging momentum back to the Braves’ bench as they held on down the stretch for a win.
“We’ve taken a more balanced approach and all of our hitters have to be producing when their number is called,” Ridenour said. “Even though our girls are mostly 5-foot-6 across the board, they’re doing a great job of finding the holes in the defense. We can’t just rely on one player, and they’ve been great at taking charge to make things happen at the net.”
The Braves seemed like they were in position to run away with the fourth set, jumping ahead to a 15-4 lead.
However, the Cavaliers weren’t done fighting and began chipping away. 15-4 was trimmed to 16-9, then 16-12, following back-to-back kills from Hamman, and finally 16-15, after back-to-back aces from McAllister.
But in the end, the Braves managed to stay ahead and shifted momentum back to their side before a pair of kills from Groff sealed the deal.
Groff led the way statistically with 14 kills while Addison Smith and Adelyn Smith had nine each. Hutchison and Greene also helped out, adding eight kills apiece. Sadie Binkley led the defense with 29 dig, Mia Reed had 11 and Hannah Rhoads posted 14 digs and 35 assists.
For Chillicothe, Hamman led the way with 17 kills, six blocks and four aces while Stiteler had nine kills. Miller added seven kills, Miranda McCloy had 20 digs, Natalie Dudley added 14 digs, and Townsend finished with 13 digs and 36 assists.
“We definitely like to make things interesting in the end, but the good thing about our team is that we’re all encouraging,” Groff said. “We do a great job of communicating and picking one another up if something goes wrong. We got in that slump, but continued to encourage each other and talked on the floor.”
Logan Elm returns to action on Thursday at home against Hamilton Township in MSL action. Chillicothe, after a four-set loss to Miami Trace on Tuesday, will be back in action on
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