Lady Tigers lose to Wilmington in non-conference volleyball match

After winning their first three matches to begin the season, the McClain varsity volleyball team lost to a very good Wilmington team, 3-1 Wednesday night in Greenfield.

The Lady Tigers started off the season by winning the Spike and Dig tournament after defeating Whiteoak and Hillsboro, then traveled to East Clinton and beat the Lady Astros to improve to 3-0 on the year.

“I’m really proud of my girls’ effort tonight even though we didn’t come away with a win,” said McClain head coach Taylor Alsop. “They played very well against a really good Wilmington team that has a lot of girls who play club volleyball all year.”

Things started well for McClain in the first game as they built an early 8-4 advantage and continued to lead until the Lady  Hurricane battled back to tie the score 19-19. The game went back and forth the rest of the way, but Wilmington prevailed at the end, 29-27.

“I thought we missed a lot of serves in that first game,” Alsop said. “I think it was nine or 10 and still lost by just two points.

“So, when we started the second game, we had lost our momentum that we started off the match with, and it really seemed like we gave that to them.”

In the second set, Wilmington got off to an early lead but McClain came back to edge ahead in the middle, until the Lady  Hurricane pulled away and won convincingly, 25-17, and took a 2-0 lead.

It looked like it would be a 3-0 sweep for the match when Wilmington led the entire way in game three, until the Lady Tigers erased a 21-15 deficit and clawed back to win 27-25 in dramatic fashion.

“I think in the third set, the difference for us winning was that I changed some things up and put in some people off our bench who came in and played well and did exactly what they needed to do,” said Alsop.

The fourth and final set of the match was a back-and-forth game that saw the Lady Tigers hold a slim lead until Wilmington tied the score at 12-12. Then it was the Lady  Hurricane who led the rest of the way and built a lead of 20-13 before McClain came roaring back to knot the score at 23-23 before Wilmington prevailed, 25-23.

“In the past, we would probably have quit in a match like this, but this is a different group of girls,” Alsop said. “They will continue to push as much as they can, and they have the endurance to go five sets if they need to.

“We’re still trying to work through some kinks and see what’s going to work for us and what’s not going to work.”

McClain will next host county rival Fairfield Monday, August 28, and the freshman team will start the evening off with a match against Unioto with a 4:30 start time.

Stat leaders for McClain:

• Serving: Lily Barnes, 16-19, 2 aces; Kylea Toney, 16-19, 2 aces; Brenna Wright, 15-19, 1 ace; Madalyn Griffin, 11-14, 1 ace.

• Passing: Katie Cook, 48-49; Harley Peabody, 31-34; Lily Barnes, 22-22; Sarah Easter, 18-18.

• Attacks: Kylea Toney, 19 kills; Anna Eikenberry, 9 kills; Brenna Wright, 9 kills; Anzli Beatty-Shoemaker, 5 kills.