Derrick Webb, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — At some point, Sophie Coleman’s last volleyball game in a Sherman uniform will come.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
But thanks to an outstanding defensive effort and the help of her teammates, Unioto’s senior libero hasn’t reached the end of the road quite yet.
Coleman and friends topped Athens in a Division II sectional championship on Wednesday, fighting off the Bulldogs by a 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21 final.
“She’s so important,” junior Abbie Marshall said of Coleman. “In the huddle, before the game starts, we just talk about how we don’t want it to be her last game. We just keep doing this for her. It’s for our whole team, but really, we don’t want her season to end.”
While Coleman held down the fort defensively — alongside a mix of Marshall, Madelyn Wetzel and Megan Miller, as well as Alli Park at the net — Jade Stewart provided the offensive fireworks.
The sophomore continuously pelt Athens’ defense with powerful swings and ended the night with a team-high 20 kills.
Put simply, the Bulldogs searched to a wide extent and still couldn’t find an answer to stop her.
“It’s knowing that when I get that set, my team is relying on me to put it away,” Stewart said. “I just swing away and hope that I put it away. It’s honestly really fun. Knowing you need to put it away and, when you do, everybody just gets so hyped. It’s an amazing feeling.”
PHOTOS: Images from Unioto’s win over Athens
Unioto (18-5) took a 6-3 lead in the first set after an ace from Emma Specht. From there, Ella Cutright put the Shermans ahead 10-7, Stewart later made it 19-12 and Cutright ended the game with a kill, putting her team ahead in the match with a 25-19 victory.
The second told a similar story.
Stewart helped Unioto take a 7-2 lead off the jump, Madelyn Wetzel logged a service ace to double up the Bulldogs at 16-8 and Cutright made it 20-12 with a cross-court kill.
But that’s when Athens (15-8) started to gain momentum, ripping off an 8-4 run to cut the deficit to four at 24-20. Park logged a kill to give Unioto a 2-0 match lead with a 25-20 win but the Bulldogs had seemed to find a working recipe.
Thanks to the play of Greta Gunderson and Magdalene Schlicher, Athens managed to go ahead 14-13 midway through the third. That’s a lead they’d never give up, building advantages of 17-15 and 21-16 before putting away a 25-21 victory.
More back-and-forth action happened in the fourth but Unioto made sure to not let Athens force a winner-take-all fifth game. Stewart and Cutright teamed up to put the Shermans ahead 17-16 and sparked a late 7-2 run to help put away a 25-20, sectional-title clinching victory.
“It’s so much fun, especially setting [the other girls],” Marshall said. “Just knowing that when I do something, that I can rely on them to put the ball down, it makes it ten times more fun.”
Following Stewart’s 20 kills was Cutright, who finished with 14 kills and two aces. Marshall tallied six kills, 24 assists, 15 digs and two blocks, and Park had five kills and a pair of blocks. Wetzel added 24 assists and 10 digs, and Coleman totaled a team-high 21 digs.
While Athens’ season comes to a close, Unioto advances to a Division II district semifinal against top-seeded Circleville. That matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday at Logan High School.
The Shermans and Tigers met earlier this season with Circleville winning that game in three sets by a 16-25, 25-17, 25-21 final.
“We’ve seen Circleville. We saw them this summer and our invitational here earlier in the year,” Marshall said. “We know what they have. But we have to stay on top of everything and be ready for everything. We have to swing. Our tips weren’t working tonight and we were tipping too much. So we have to hit [Circleville’s] open spaces and our serve receive has to be on.”
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