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CHILLICOTHE — With its back against the wall on Thursday and with a loss seeming imminent, Adena sent Kamryn Sowers to the service line and the senior dug them out of a hole.
Trailing 14-13 in the fifth set of a must-win match to clinch at least a share of the Scioto Valley Conference title, Sowers shook off a mountain of pressure — and noise — to lead her teammates on a game-ending 4-0 run.
“I was just really focusing on getting it over [the net] and in [play],” Sowers said. “The student section behind me was yelling, the whole crowd was, and I just really needed to get it over and help my teammates.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
But it wasn’t just Sowers that carried Adena to the finish line. As they have all year long, the Warriors (16-3, 12-0 SVC) came together in a moment of adversity and worked alongside one another to finish the job.
After Corrine Day cut Huntington’s lead to 14-13 in the fifth, Sowers stepped to the line. A hitting error tied the score at 14-14 and then Katie Burns took over. The junior sent a ball to the floor with authority to put the Warriors in front and followed it with a second straight kill, putting an end to a thrilling 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 16-14 win — one that clinched a share of the crown.
“I’m proud of these girls, whether they would’ve won or lost. They work hard and I just enjoy the way they work together and get along,” Adena coach Laura Smith said. “We sat and talked for about an hour last night before practice, just discussing things. We talked about things that can tear you apart and how we couldn’t get too proud of ourselves. It takes all of us to get a win. Pride always comes before the fall. We just don’t want to see that happen.”
It didn’t happen on Thursday and it easily could have, in front of a jam-packed crowd that provided a rowdy environment all evening.
“I finally just sat down because our girls couldn’t hear what I was saying,” Smith said, with a smile. “But we need that kind of environment. We need to experience that and know what it feels like. It’s good for us. If we go far in the tournament, it’s going to be noisy. So that’s all good and tonight was a good experience for us.”
Tale of the tape
Out of the gates, Huntington (16-2, 10-2 SVC) was the aggressor — an effort led by senior Kaci Carroll and freshman Brailee Hauswirth.
Allie Baker gave the Huntsmen an early lead with a kill before Carroll made it 5-2. That edge would stretch to 9-4 before the Warriors started throwing counter punches.
Day scored three of the next four points before Jacey Smith logged an ace to cap a 6-0 run, putting the Warriors ahead 10-9. But Carroll later logged a kill to give Huntington a 12-11 lead and it never looked back.
Leading 16-15, Carroll led her team on momentum-shifting 8-0 run before they put away a 25-18 win.
“We just couldn’t stop [Huntington] on their strong side tonight,” Smith said. “They were tearing us apart. I told [assistant coach] Donna [Atchison] that we were going to do a little something unorthodox, defensively. We were just seeing if it was going to work because what we were doing was not. We started out on the perimeter and they were beating us down the line, then we switched our rotation and they started going across.”
As sharp as Huntington looked in the first set, Burns and Day put an end to that in the second.
PHOTOS: Images from Adena’s win over Huntington
But that didn’t happen until after the Huntsmen took a 10-4 lead, a run paced by Hauswirth, Carroll and Lydia Black. After Layla Halm posted a block to bring the Warriors to within three at 10-7, Day and Burns went to work, eventually putting Adena ahead 13-12.
After back and forth action, Burns made it 19-17 with a kill. Day later followed suit for a 21-18 count. That was enough to hold off the Huntsmen and tie the match with a 25-21 victory.
That momentum carried over into the third where Adena took control of the match.
Sowers logged an ace midway through, making it 12-8 in the Warriors’ favor, before Day later made it 18-14. Huntington cut the deficit to 20-19, via Baker, but Burns logged back-to-back kills late in the set, paving the way for Adena to win a 25-20 tally.
In the fourth, Baker and Leah McCloskey teamed up to give Huntington a 4-2 lead before Hauswirth later made it 18-14 with back-to-back aces. When Black logged a kill, it polished off a 5-0 run to make it 19-14.
The Warriors battled back to tie the game at 20-20, but Carroll and company were too much to handle late in the set, sending the match into the fifth set with a 25-21 victory.
In a race to 15, Adena took a 6-2 lead, thanks to kills from Burns and Caroline Glandon. But Hauswirth and Carroll cut that lead to 7-5, forcing an Adena timeout, before eventually putting Huntington out in front at 10-8.
That set the stage for the Huntsmen to go ahead 14-12. But with match point on the scoreboard, the Warriors’ defense forced a stop and Sowers headed to the line.
The rest, as they say, is in the history books.
“It couldn’t have gotten any closer,” Smith said. “I just remember thinking, ‘If they get the next point, it’s over with.’ Then we tied it and I thought, ‘This is good.’ We had a good server back and it just all fell into place. Everybody was doing their jobs. We missed some assignments defensively, trying to change things up a little bit. But Huntington did a great job pinpointing serves. They were tougher [from the service line] than I remember. They’ve got good hitters, too. It’s hard to get them out of their system.”
“It just means so much because we’ve been working so hard,” Sowers said. “Our theme is ‘together as one.’ Everybody has a purpose on this team. We’re all working towards the same goal. We just really wanted this really bad. We were able to achieve it tonight.”
Stat book
Burns and Day led the Warriors offensively. Burns powered down 32 kills while Day had 26 of her own, respectively.
“I just think [the title was won] because these girls play together,” Smith said. “Everyone has accepted their role and it’s just fallen into place.”
As for the Huntsmen, Carroll tallied 21 kills while Hauswirth added 16 of her own. Baker also chipped in with 11 kills and 20 digs while Lydia Black finished with nine kills. Isabella Steele led the defensive effort with 23 digs while Leah McCloskey totaled 20.
What’s on tap
With at least a share of the SVC title in hand, Adena now looks to a non-league contest at Shekinah Christian on Saturday. Meanwhile, Huntington will attempt to get back on track on Monday at Fairfield.
“We can work on our fundamentals and stay focused during the game,” Kamryn Sowers said. “Sometimes, we’ll get a little sidetracked. So we just need to stay focused and work on the stuff we can work on.”
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