GALION — Back on Tuesday, October 9, the Galion Lady Tigers volleyball squad were on their home floor to compete in their final Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference contest against the visiting Buckeye Valley Lady Barons.
With the potential to claim, at minimum, a share of the conference title on the line and despite illnesses and injuries, Galion defeated Buckeye Valley in a clean sweep; 25-17, 25-14, 25-12. The win moved the Lady Tigers, at that time, to 17-4 overall on the season and 13-1 within the MOAC.
While the blue and orange won their contest on their home floor, the Pleasant Lady Spartans were on the road against the Ontario Lady Warriors. The Lady Warriors defended their floor at the “O-rena” and upset Pleasant in four sets to make Galion the outright MOAC champions for the second consecutive season.
Things got off to a bit of a rough start for the Tigers and the first set carried on in back and forth action with Galion eventually rallying to claim the 25-17 victory despite not earning their first advantage of the set until going up 7-6.
In the second set, Buckeye Valley would strike first again but the home team would respond, taking the lead at 3-2 and not looking back en route to the 25-14 set victory.
Galion, after being updated on the progress of the Pleasant/Ontario matchup, began the third set strong, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before the Lady Barons found themselves on the scoreboard. Buckeye Valley was unable to find an answer to the Tigers offense and Galion cruised to the set and match victory.
With the absence of Brooklyn Cosey and Samantha Comer, the other Lady Tigers needed to step up and did so in a big way, led by a 13-kill performance by junior Gillian Miller. Jaden Ivy was also active at the net, reaching double figures in kills with 11. Gracie Groves turned in five kills while Kerrigan Myers stepped in and delivered four. Abby Foust contributed three kills on the night and Kayla Hardy rounded out the statistical category with one kill to give Galion 37 for the contest. Hardy also finished with 33 of the team’s 34 assists on 70/71 handling. The other assist for the Lady Tigers was credited to Kate Schieber.
Ivy also came up big for the blue and orange at the service line, going 16/20 for 15 points on two aces. Hardy also achieved double-digit points at the line, finishing at 12/14 for 11 points and three aces.
Other serving stats for Galion in the victory were: Team- 66/75, 46 points, 10 aces; Groves- 10/10, 7, 1; Foust- 13/13, 7, 1; Nicole Thomas- 7/10, 4, 3 and Schieber- 8/8, 2.
Defensively, the Lady Tigers didn’t appear to have to work as hard as usual but still finished the contest at 35/36 serve receptions, two solo blocks, two assisted blocks and 26 team digs.
Myers finished with a solo block and an assisted block while Miller posted the same stat line. Foust and Thomas led the way with eight digs apiece on the evening while Hardy and Ivy notched three digs apiece. Schieber recorded two digs and Groves and Miller added one dig apiece in the win.
With the regular season in the books after a 3-0 victory against the Riverdale Lady Falcons on Wednesday, Galion now looks towards their upcoming postseason run.
That run is set to begin on Saturday, October 20 at 11 a.m. when the No. 3 seed Lady Tigers will head over to Ashland and Crestview High School for their sectional championship contest against the winner of No. 6 seed Seneca East and No. 8 seed Margaretta.
Galion 3, Riverdale 0
GALION — A night after claiming their second straight MOAC title, the Galion Lady Tigers were back on their home floor to play in their final contest of the regular season against a non-conference foe in the likes of the Riverdale Lady Falcons.
Still riding the momentum from Tuesday’s win, Galion had no issues with their visitors, cruising to a straight-set victory; 25-8, 25-14, 25-14. With the win, the Lady Tigers finish their regular season at 18-4 overall, losing just 19 sets on the season while winning 54 total. The blue and orange posted an undefeated record at home on the year, finishing 8-0.
Offensive stats for Galion in the win were: Team- 71/74 serving, 55 points, 20 aces, 26 kills, 98/103 setting, 24 assists; Myers- 3 kills, 1 assist; Mya Steele- 2/2 serving, 1 point, 2 assists; Ivy- 9/9 serving, 7 points, 3 aces, 12 kills; Miller- 4 kills; Hardy- 14/15 serving, 10 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 19 assists; Schieber- 9/10 serving, 6 points, 1 ace, 1 assist; Groves- 4/4 serving, 4 points, 4 aces, 3 kills; Foust- 7/7 serving, 7 points, 7 aces, 2 kills; Sydney Eckert- 8/8 serving, 7 points, 3 aces; Thomas- 6/6 serving, 4 points and Kasidee Sinclair- 12/13 serving, 9 points, 1 assist.
Defensive numbers for the Lady Tigers Wednesday were: Team- 28/29 serve reception, 3 solo blocks, 12 assisted blocks, 9 total blocks, 36 digs; Myers- 1 solo, 5 assisted, 6 total; Steele- 2 digs; Ivy- 1 solo, 1 assisted, 2 total, 3 digs; Miller- 1 solo, 2 assisted, 3 total, 3 digs; Hardy- 8 digs; Schieber- 9 digs; Groves- 1 assisted, 1 total, 1 dig; Foust- 3 assisted, 3 total, 2 digs; Thomas- 1 dig; Kierra Pigg- 2 digs and Sinclair- 5 digs.
