PLEASANT HILL – The No. 4 seed Tri-Village Lady Patriots defeated the Bellefontaine Calvary Christian Lady Spartans in straight sets to advance in OHSAA DVI volleyball tournament play.
“We preach that everybody is 0-0 when the tournament starts,” said Tri-Village coach Taylor Rawlings. “We had to come out ready to play because you never know what that team will bring at you.”
Coach Rawlings and the Lady Patriots did not know what they would face when they took on the girls from Bellefontaine.
“I didn’t have much information on them, so we came in pretty blind,” Rawlings noted.
The Lady Patriots doubled up on Calvary 19-8 to open first set play on their way to a 25-12 win.
Tri-Village grabbed a double-digit 19-9 second set advantage in taking the set 25-17 and leading 2-0 on the day.
Calvary Christian battled back in set No. 3 with leads of 2-3, 4-6, and 9-6 before the Lady Patriots used a 3-0 run to even the score at 9-9. The Bellefontaine girls got the lead back at 10-9 before Tri-Village used an 11-3 run to lead 20-13 on their way to a 25-15 third-set win.
“We had our moments, but we were able to gather it back together and finish strong,” said Coach Rawlings. “I am proud of them for finding that go to finish that strong because once you’re done, it’s done. It’s tournament time so I’m glad we were able to find that grit, that effort to finish off.”
“Gabby Kirby had a few nice kills; Zoe Ayette set well today,” Rawlings added. “We are starting to play more as a team. The team as a whole did pretty good today.”
With the win, Tri-Village improves to 12-11 on the season and advances to play the Houston Lady Wildcats, winners over the Franklin Monroe Lady Jets. The Lady Patriots will play the No. 9 seed Houston on Thursday, October 24th, at Newton High School with a 5:30 p.m. start time.
