Huntington and Zane Trace To Square Off for District Volleyball Crown
Article Presented By Pickaway Ross CTC…
Two SVC volleyball rivals will meet for a third time in the 2024 season, only this time it will be for the Division 5 District Championship Saturday at Waverly High School. The (21-3) Huntington Huntsmen advanced past the (10-14) Westfall Mustangs with a five-set victory, followed by the (13-11) Zane Trace Pioneers four-set win over the (21-3) North Adams Green Devils.
Huntington 3, Westfall 2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-13, 22-25, 15-10)
These two conference foes went five sets against each other for a third time this season, with Huntington again winning the match.
Set 1 remained close early with Westfall leading 8-7, before Huntington’s 6-0 run gave the Huntsmen a 13-8 lead. That lead extended to 18-12, but the Mustangs battled back to tie it 21-21. But, that was followed by Huntington 4-0 run for the opening 25-21 victory.
Westfall bounced back with a Set 2 win of 25-20, grabbing the lead early at 9-4. Huntington evened the score at 16-16 and later 19-19, but Westfall closed on a 6-1 run to even the match (1-1).
Huntington regained the upper hand in Set 3, building big advantages of 8 to 10 points and took a (2-1) match lead with a 25-13 win.
But, Westfall wasn’t finished, using tough serving, along with Aubrey Clark and Adrian Moehl’s front row attack in a 25-22 match evening victory. Set 4 remained close most of the way, with Westfall’s biggest lead being 19-14. Following a Huntington timeout, the Huntsmen clawed their way back to within 20-19, but the Mustangs 25-22 win sent the match into a fifth and final set.
Huntington broke away from a 4-4 tie, grabbing leads of 10-5 and 12-6. Westfall cut the deficit to 12-9, prompting a Huntsmen timeout. This enabled Huntington to regain their composure and finish the match at 15-10.
SVC “Player of the Year” Kaci Carroll was one of three Huntsmen with double-digit kills, crushing 26 for the match. Allie Baker had 14 kills, Brailee Hauswirth 12, Lydian Black 7, and Victoria Smith with 5 kills. Their defense was propelled by Baker’s 14 digs, while Carroll and Kenley Smith each had 13 digs, and Isabella Steele with 11.
Westfall’s Aubrey Clark had 16 kills, Adrian Moehl 13, Natalie Young 7, Karli Thornton 6, Tara Wolfe 3, and Adriana Hicks with 2 kills.
Zane Trace 3, North Adams 1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 25-19)
The district semifinal nightcap featured a blistering service contest by both teams, as the Pioneers compiled 16 aces and North Adams 9.
Zane Trace was in control most of the opening Set, breaking away from an 11-8 contest for the 25-18 victory.
Set 2 swung back to the Green Devils, but not without a fight. With the score tied 12-12, North Adams used a 6-1 run for an 18-13 advantage. However, Zane Trace stormed back for a 23-22 lead, but could not hold it as the Green Devils closed on a 4-1 run for a match leveling 26-24 win.
The Pioneers jumped out to big leads early in Set 3 at 6-1, 12-6, 15-8, then 16-10. North Adams mounted a run to cut the deficit to 17-15, where ZT used a timeout to regroup. Zane Trace took off to a 22-15 lead and moved on for the 25-20 victory and a (2-1) match lead.
The momentum swung completely the other way to begin Set 4 with North Adams sprinting to a lead of 13-2. But the bell went off in the Pioneers’ heads, battling back to within 17-12. From there, ZT stormed off on a 9-0 run for a 21-17 lead and closed the match with the 25-19 win.
The Pioneers were powered by Alayna Scott’s 15 kills, followed by Addison Platt with 10. Karlee Snavely added 7 kills, and Kailee Johnson had 5 kills and 4 blocks. Maddison Mash, Karlee Snavely, and Kerrigan Hill each had 4 of the team’s 16 serving aces. Hill anchored the Pioneers back row defense with 32 digs for the match. Addison Platt added 24.
North Adams was led by Katelynn Boerger’s 19 kills.
Zane Trace and Huntington will play for the district title at 5pm Saturday at Waverly High School. The opening match that day will be top seed Wheelersburg against Fairland at Noon, then Adena vs New Lexington at 2:30pm.
