Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Coming into Thursday’s road game against area rival Whitko undefeated in the Three Rivers Conference, the Manchester volleyball looked to keep that zero in the loss column. They were able to, taking three of the four sets to remain in contention for the TRC crown with a 3-1 win.
Manchester enjoyed a fast start to the game thanks to some unforced errors by their opponent. A ton of Whitko’s early kill attempts and serves sailed long and out of bounds, but the visitors were not complaining. They were doing a good job complimenting those mistakes with some efficient offense of their own, which led to an early eight-point lead.
That cushion allowed the Lady Squires to remain in front for quite a long stretch of play. But towards the end of the set, the momentum completely flipped. Now it was Manchester that was struggling to keep the ball in bounds and the home side was taking advantage of it. The Lady ‘Cats stormed back, getting within two points at 18-16 and forcing a timeout in the process.
That was as close as they’d get, as the visitors were able to right the ship and coast through the rest of the set. A kill by Sophie Cumberland was the final point in a 25-18 victory for the Lady Squires in the opener.
The second set enjoyed a much more competitive start, as both teams were having trouble separating from one another. It wasn’t until a kill from Mya Metzger made it 11-8 for Manchester that the game saw its first three-point lead, and that didn’t last for very long. An ace by Meredith Hindbaugh, who was stuffing the stat sheet all night long, tied things up three points later, and not long after that, Whitko retook the lead.
The game continued on, but the two teams remained neck-and-neck with each other. Tied again at 17 all, the Lady Squires became the first team to 20 on a kill by Lacy Trump, forcing a timeout by Whitko with the home side down 20-18. The break in the action seemed to revitalize the home side, as the Lady ‘Cats stormed back in front at 22-21 and were now just three points away from evening the match up.
Twenty five points would not be enough to decide a winner. Whitko had match point at 24-23, but was unable to get the job done there. However, they did end up picking up the win a few tries later on a kill by Hindbaugh that tied the match with a 27-25 win.
With both sides having had two sets of action to clean things up, the margins remained razor thin as the third set got going. Both teams held the lead in the early going, and this time it was the home side taking a three-point lead about a third of the way into the set, just for the visitors to erase it. Once the Lady Squires evened things up and eventually jumped in front, they stayed there for a good amount of time.
Eventually, the team took a four-point lead at 18-14, the largest for either side since the first set. The offense seemed to have taken it up another level, adding an extra few miles per hour to their kills. They remained in front until the very end, getting stronger as the set wore on as the visitors picked up a 25-21 victory to move within a game of taking the match.
Whitko senior Alexa Culp stays focused while bumping the ball during Thursday night's home match against Manchester...Nieter
Now needing a win to keep this thrilling match going, the Lady ‘Cats were able to build a small lead in the early stages of the fourth set. As was the case with most advantages in this contest though, it quickly evaporated as the visitors stormed back to go ahead themselves. But, even as the lead continued to change hands over and over again, neither side was able to separate more than a few points away from their opponent.
The game was deadlocked at 15 all and neither side had been able to generate any sort of momentum for quite some time. Just when it felt like one team was starting to roll, the other was there to answer in a flash. Eventually, an ace by Alexis Jarrett put the Lady Squires up by three and forced Whitko to use its first timeout of the set.
That lead grew to five following the break, and now Manchester was closing in on the victory. Like the set prior, it seemed as if the visitors had unlocked another gear as they tried to close things out, and it allowed them to extend their lead quickly and greatly late in these games. The Lady ‘Cats tried to stop the bleeding with one more timeout, but it was no use. The Lady Squires picked up the final two points of the night, clinching the match with a 25-18 win.
Manchester (11-7, 3-0 TRC) is at Rochester on Tuesday, while Whitko (8-3, 2-1) will compete at the Triton Invite this weekend.
