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THE PLAINS — With his team’s back against the wall, Nelsonville-York head coach Wayne Dicken showed no signs of panic.
The Buckeyes faced a 2-1 deficit in Tuesday night’s matchup at Athens with the TVC-Ohio crown on the line. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs looked to finish off the Buckeyes and take the league title all for themselves.
Dicken and his team didn’t let that happen on their watch.
CREDIT: Carissa Nickel/SOSA
Nelsonville-York (19-3, 11-1 TVC) rallied in the fourth and fifth sets, with senior Megan Booth being the catalyst. Booth assisted three of the final four points in the fifth set before tallying the winning kill to clinch a five-set win for the Buckeyes.
The victory redeems NY’s loss to Athens back on Sept. 12, and allows the Buckeyes to put their hands on, at least a share of, a league title.
“Credit to the nine seniors we have for the resiliency that they showed tonight. Our main goal going into this season was a TVC championship. If we have to share the title, then we’re sharing it with a great team,” Dicken said. “But we accomplished goal number one tonight. These seniors and the entire team have worked hard for this. We’re happy with where we’re at and that we were able to come back and win those last two sets.”
“Any time we play Athens, the energy of the crowd is a lot of fun to play under. When they beat us earlier in the season, it put a chip on our shoulder. It was our first league loss since 2021,” Dicken added. “We knew that we were in for a dog fight tonight, and luckily, we were able to come out on top. I think if we were to play them ten times, each team might win five.”
Knowing all that was at stake, the Buckeyes played with a lot of energy in the opening set and got the upper hand after a 3-0 run to start. Booth continued to set up her teammates for scoring opportunities and allowed the Buckeyes to push the lead to 13-6.
Though Athens showed life throughout the first, NY never trailed by more than five points. Three straight Buckeye points finished off a 25-19 win.
However, the Bulldogs (17-4, 10-1 TVC) weren’t going to make things easy.
Nelsonville-York tried to create separation like it did in the first set, but Athens stayed right in the mix of things in the second. Trailing 8-7, Alexa Reed gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the night with two consecutive aces. Later, with Athens holding a slight 11-10 lead, the Bulldogs embarked on a 6-0 run that saw each point scored by Rylee Toadvine or Caitlyn Hayes. The Bulldogs never looked back from there, taking the second set by a 25-14 tally.
The Buckeyes got right back up off the ground in the third.
Four service aces from Kyleigh Warren highlighted a 7-0 run to start the set for NY. That did not matter to Athens, however.
Slowly but surely, the Bulldogs rallied back, tying the set at 24-24. Athens capitalized on the opportunity and fired off a 3-0 run to win the set, 26-24, taking a 2-1 match lead.
In between sets, the spark was rekindled in the Buckeyes’ huddle.
Nelsonville-York was down, but it certainly was not out. Staying calm and collected, Booth helped show that her team had plenty left in the tank.
“Megan Booth is one of the best setters in Southeast Ohio. I’d put her up against anybody. I always tell her she’s my floor general. She’s like another coach for us out on the floor. She’s been like that for the last three years.” Dicken said. “She’s a student of the game and she studies a lot of film. She was watching film all day today. She feeds our hitters and knows who to go to, she makes great decisions. We’re going to miss her next year but we’re so happy to have her now.”
With the two teams deadlocked at 5-5 in the fourth, Booth assisted Kyleigh Warren to give the Buckeyes a one-point advantage. She later assisted her teammates three more times during a 7-0 run to put them ahead, 13-6. The senior would dish out 14 assists in the fourth set alone before making the set-clinching kill — again — cementing a 25-19 final and forcing a winner-take-all fifth set.
All of the sudden, the Buckeyes had momentum right back in their hands.
Looking to deliver the knockout punch, NY started the fifth on a 3-0 run before Booth assisted Gianna Dixon for a kill, pushing the lead to 7-4. Not to be outdone, Athens fired off four consecutive points of its own, highlighted by two straight aces from Maeve Schwarzel.
NY took the lead right back, however, with Booth leading the way. First assisting Chloee Vohlken to tie things at 8-8, she then connected with Warren on back-to-back plays to give her team a 10-8 lead.
The Buckeyes never looked back from there.
After assisting Warren and Dixon on three straight plays, Booth successfully dumped the ball over the net on match point, finishing off a five-set thriller in the Buckeyes’ favor, securing revenge and a share of the crown.
CREDIT: Carissa Nickel/SOSA
“Earlier in the season, we went to five sets with a really good Logan team, and we were able to come out and win that fifth set,” Dicken said. “Going into that last set, I told our team that we had to play with a sense of urgency. I reiterated that we’ve had some hot starts. We don’t ever want to get too high or too low on ourselves. These seniors were able to come out, lock down when they needed to, and come out with a win.”
For the third straight year, the Buckeyes will bring at least a share of the TVC-Ohio championship back to Nelsonville.
As NY closes the book on the regular season, Athens looks to finish off its slate with a date against rival Alexander on Thursday. An Athens loss would give NY the outright league crown.
“I think tonight was a huge momentum boost for us. I think we’ve been playing good volleyball regardless, but I think a win tonight against a really solid team in Athens prepares us for anything,” Dicken said. “I’m not sure that we’re going to see that many teams in our district or in Division VI who are as scrappy and as good as they are. Hopefully we can take advantage of this and take home another district championship this year.”
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