BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The Boiling Springs boys volleyball team started their journey to the first possible state championship in the state of South Carolina for the sport with a 3-0 victory over Clover on Monday night.
"Being able to win the match 3-0 against Clover to start the playoffs is exciting," said Bulldogs head coach Rachel Hyatt. "We knew that Clover wasn't a team that would just lay down and go down without a fight. I'm really proud of my guys responding with basically a whole new group from last season." Hyatt, who was celebrating her birthday on Monday, said that the team gave her the best birthday present she could ask for this year. "It feels good for them to get the win on my birthday, and it was a great present," said Hyatt. "They came through for sure with a great present." Boiling Springs started the match with a strong block kill by junior Tim Okhman that t started the Bulldogs on a 9-1 run to start the first set with two kills by Okhman and three kills by Prosper Hawj. They continued the impressive run in the first set taking a 15-2 lead over the Blue Eagles including three straight kills by senior Mark Zdanevich. The Bulldogs kept the pressure on despite a Clover run that cut the lead to 21-10 but three straight ace serves by sophomore Coleman Wheatley gave Boiling Springs a 24-10 lead before Okhman spiked a ball into the middle of the Blue Eagles defense for a 25-12 win in the first set to take a 1-0 lead in the match. "Tim is one of those players I need on the front row at all times but unfortunately that can't happen," said Hyatt with a laugh. "When he goes up there, he's a wall when people hit it back which is why he's leading the nation is solo blocks as he had 94 heading into the match tonight." In the second set the two teams battled back and forth to a 20-20 tie before the Bulldogs scored the final five points of the set getting kills from three sophomores as Antoine Murray, Dylan Booker, and Wheatley scored the final three points of the set with the last coming on a push kill by Wheatley that fell just inside the Clover out of bounds line to take a 25-20 win in the set increasing their match lead to 2-0. Clover got out to a 6-1 lead in the third set as it looked like the Blue Eagles were on their way for to a set win, but the Bulldogs stormed back going on an 11-2 run that included two kills by Zdanevich, a kill by Wheatley, and three ace serves by Hawj to take a 12-8 lead over the Blue Eagles. As the set went on both teams battled back and forth as they were both tied at 24-24 before a violation was called against Clover and then the match ended just the way it started as Okhman spiked a ball into the middle of the Blue Eagles defense as they won the set 26-24 and the match 3-0. Junior Tim Okhman had eight kills as he added to his nation leading solo blocks total going over the 100 blocks mark for the season. Senior Mark Zdanevich led the Bulldogs with nine kills while fellow senior Prosper Hawj added seven kills and 13 assists. Sophomore Coleman Wheatley led the Bulldogs in assists with 15 while junior Brady Gilmore added six digs. Boiling Springs will now move on to a second round playoff match that is scheduled for Wednesday against Byrnes, who the Bulldogs split their matches 1-1 that they played against each other this season. Comments are closed.
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