Top Ranked Independence Sweeps Adena VB State Title Hopes

Presented By Rathkamp Financial

Unbeaten and D-3 state top ranked Independence Blue Devils ended the (25-3) Adena Warriors volleyball state title hopes with a 25-22, 25-16, 26-24) sweep Friday at Wright State University’s Nutter Center.

The Warriors held a commanding 22-17 lead in the opening set, only to see the Blue Devils close on an 8-0 run for a 25-22 win, which might have been the turning point of the match.

Adena seemed rattled in Set #2, getting aced on serve five times and struggled to pass the ball in possession to get an attack going in a 25-16 loss, that never saw Independence trail.

The Warriors appeared to get their confidence back in set #3, taking their biggest lead at 18-10, but once again the Blue Devils battled back to take a lead of 22-20. Adena answered with a 3-0 run for a 23-22 lead, only to see Adena stave off one Independence match-point at 24-23, before eventually putting it away 26-24.

The Warriors were aced 8 times in the match, while Adena aced Independence 7 times. Neither team hit the ball that well, but the Blue Devils were a little better with a .202 percentage compared to Adena’s .136.

Senior Jenna Martin led the Adena offense with 7 kills, Ellie Harper 6, Makenna Lovely 5, Hannah Burns, while Sydney Foglesong, Makaela Lovely and Hannah Burns each had 4.

Hope Garrison had 18 assists, 4 aces and 11 digs. Camryn Carroll had 17 digs. Brenna McQuiniff added 8 digs.

Independence was led by Callie Prokopius with 11 kills and Hanna Wilson added 10. The Blue Devils had 46 kills compared to Adena’s 30.

Independence improves to (28-0) and faces unbeaten Liberty Benton Saturday for the Division 3 state title.