GALION — Galion’s volleyball team opened the season Tuesday with a hard-fought 3-2 non-league win over Bellevue. After a strong first set, Galion struggle in the second and third sets to fall behind, 2-1. But they rallied in the last two sets for a 25-12, 19-25, 16-25, 25-18. 15-10 to give their coach a nice birthday gift.
“I told the girls whay I wanted for my birthday was to win,” said head coach Jaime Valentine.
In the first set, Galion took over after a Jaden Ivy kill that tied the set at three points apiece. On a Nicole Thomas ace, the Lady Tigers went ahead 4-3 and never looked back, eventually stretching their lead to six points before a Bellevue timeout with the Tigers up 17-11. Kate Schieber would come out of the timeout and serve up an ace and Galion cruised to a 25-12 win.
“In the first set, we looked great,” said Valentine. “We served great and there were very few unforced errors and then, in the second and third, we appeared to just sort of ‘fall off the wagon’.”
On those disastrous two sets, Valentine said: “whenever someone comes knocking at our door, we shut down. We stop talking and get frustrated. When we stop having fun and communicating, we get into trouble.”
But, then the momentum changed again. In a back-and fourth set, Galion rallied for the 25-18 win to force set No. 5.
The Lady Tigers struck first, scoring on Bellevue’s opening serve. After tying the set up at one point apiece, things would swing back in Galion’s favor and stay that way as they retained control en route to the game, set and match,
Galion put together an 82/92 serving mark which included eight total aces that led to 46 points. They also recorded 57 kills, 53 assists, 63 digs, 13 blocks and were 96/106 on service reception.
Ivy led the attack at the net, earning 18 of Galion’s 57 kills while Kayla Hardy recorded all 53 assists.
Other statistics: Samantha Comer- 14 kills, 10/12 serving, 4 points, 2 aces, 2 blocks, 14 digs; Kerrigan Myers- 3 kills, 2 blocks, 4 digs; Taylor Keeran- 11 kills, 7/10 serving, 8 points, 3 aces, 3 blocks, 1 dig; Ivy- 20/23 serving, 15 points, 1 ace, 5 blocks, 2 digs; Gillian Miller- 9 kills, 4 blocks; Brooklyn Cosey- 4 blocks; Hardy- 12/12 serving, 4 points, 11 digs; Schieber- 15/16 serving, 5 points, 1 ace, 13 digs and Nicole Thomas- 18/19 serving, 10 points, 1 ace, 18 digs.
Galion 3, Pleasant 0
MARION — Following their season opener, Galion traveled to Marion to begin Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference play on Thursday against Pleasant. The Tigers rolled to an easy win in three sets, 25-10, 25-9, 25-17. Galion is 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the MOAC.
For the visitors, serving would be a huge advantage as they went 65/69 on the evening which included 49 points and 14 team aces. Galion also picked up 44 kills, led by 13 from Ivy, on 35 assists, 34 of which came from Hardy.
Defensively, Miller led the block party, earning four of the eight total Tigers’ blocks. Thomas led the Galion squad in digs, picking up 14 of the team’s 47 on the night. Thomas also served up six of the 14 Galion aces in the win.
Additional stats from Thursday’s victory were: Comer- 8 kills, 1 block, 9 digs, 1 assist, 4 aces, 15 points; Myers- 3 kills, 2 blocks; Keeran- 10 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs, 3 aces, 7 points; Ivy- 1 block, 7 digs, 1 ace, 6 points; Miller- 7 kills; Hardy- 3 kills, 7 digs, 3 points; Schieber- 4 digs, 3 points; Thomas- 15 points and Kierra Pigg- 4 digs.
Galion is at home Tuesday, Aug. 27 vs. River Valley in MOAC action. and at Bishop Waterson in non-conference play Wednesday. On Thursday, Aug. 29, the Tigers are at Harding.
