BELLEVUE — On Tuesday, August 21, the Galion Lady Tigers volleyball team officially began their regular season and did so with a trip north to Bellevue for a meeting with the Lady Redmen.
In the end, it would be the Bellevue squad coming away with the victory, defeating the visiting Lady Tigers; 3-1.
The Lady Tigers fell in the first set; 25-16 before earning their only set victory in set number two; 25-15. From that point, the Lady Red buckled down and went on to win the final two sets; 25-21 and 25-19.
Offensively, Galion finished the contest at 74/82 serving, good for 31 points on eight team aces.
Leading the way for the Tigers was Samantha Comer, going 17/18 for 10 points and an ace. Kayla Hardy (13/15, 3 aces) and Abby Foust (10/12, ace) earned Galion six points apiece in their time at the service line.
Other service statistics for Galion against Bellevue were: Nicole Thomas- 11/12, 4 points, ace; Jaden Ivy- 12/14, 2 points, 2 aces; Kate Schieber- 9/9, 2 points and Gracie Groves- 2/2, point.
At the net, the blue and orange saw six players picking up at least two kills on the evening with Hardy posting a total of 30 assists on 113/115 ball handling.
Ivy finished the game with 11 kills as Comer put down 10. Gillian Miller contributed eight kills on 21 attempts while Brooklyn Cosey and Groves finished with three kills apiece with Hardy throwing down two kills of her own. In total, Galion was 114/134 on the attack, recording 37 combined kills as a team. Comer, Thomas and Foust earned an assist apiece as the Lady Tigers finished with 33 total assists on 152/157 handling.
On the defensive side of the net, Galion was 51/63 on serve reception and 30/48 on dig attempts. At the net, the Tigers combined for nine total blocks despite 14 blocking errors on the night.
Defensive stats against Bellevue were: Comer- 3 blocks, 10 digs; Ivy- 2 blocks, 5 digs; Miller- block, 3 digs; Cosey- 3 blocks; Hardy- block, 12 digs; Schieber- 7 digs; Groves- 3 blocks; Thomas- 9 digs and Foust- 2 digs.
Next up for the Galion Lady Tigers will be a home contest against a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference foe in the likes of the Pleasant Lady Spartans. The two teams will kick-off conference play against one another on Thursday, August 23. After a weekend off, Galion will be back on the road for a non-conference clash against the Mohawk Lady Warriors on Monday, August 27. The following day, the Lady Tigers will head to Caledonia for another MOAC clash, this time against the hosting River Valley Lady Vikings.
