When Karson Browning spiked the ball into the middle of the Indians defense for the final point in the fifth set the point sealed a 3-2 victory for Boiling Spring over Gaffney to open region play for the 2021 season.
The Bulldogs grabbed the victory in the fifth set 15-9 after leading the match 2-0 before Gaffney rallied to win the next two sets to send the match to the deciding fifth set. "We needed the first to get the first win in region play," said Boiling Springs head coach Allyson Elliot. "We took the first two sets and I didn't think it was going to go five but I know Gaffney is always a scrappy team and won't just quit playing because we were up early. I'm impressed that they didn't back down because it makes both our team and their team better. At the end of the day though we got the job done and that's what matters the most." In the first set Boiling Springs fell behind Gaffney 8-4 early before tying it at 13-13 on a spike kill by Savannah Page and then grabbing a 14-13 lead on an ace serve by Grace Shepherd. Shepherd's service run extended the Bulldogs lead to 16-13 when Cloe Wood followed up the ace serve with back-to-back kills. Gaffney was unable to cut into the Bulldogs lead from that point on as Wood ended the set in favor of the Bulldogs when she spiked a ball that landed just inside the right corner backline of the Indians defense to claim a 25-17 set victory. The Bulldogs started the second set of the match just like they finished the first as Cloe Wood came up with a kill that deflected off a Gaffney defender. Boiling Springs started the second set scoring ten unanswered points that included four kills from Wood, two kills from Logan Kenny, and an ace serve from Gracie Kilgore. Gaffney got no closer than nine points in the second set as the Bulldogs scored the final three points of the set as Wood picked up a kill, Grace Shepherd had an ace serve, and Savannah Page got the game winning point on a block kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-12 victory. In both the third and fourth sets the Bulldogs had multiple opportunities to claim the victory but Gaffney fought back each time Boiling Springs tried to finish off the match claiming a 26-24 victory in the third set and a 30-28 victory in the fourth set. Macy Bagwell put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 to start the fifth set before Gaffney was able to come back and tie the game at 2-2 before Savannah Page gave the Bulldogs the lead back at 3-2 on a spike kill down the left side of the Indians defense. With the Bulldogs up one point, Cloe Wood continued her strong night by starting a six point service run that included four ace serves and a kill by Savannah Page, which proved to be the difference in the final set as they claimed a 15-9 set win. Wood finished the night for the Bulldogs with twenty-four kills, twenty-one digs, and seven ace serves. "Cloe is coming into her own and is exciting to watch play," said Elliot. "She's a competitor and wants to win every point. She will make whatever adjustment needs to be made during the match and I'm certainly proud of her." Wood wasn't the only Bulldog to have a strong performance on Tuesday night as Gracie Kilgore finished the night with forty-six digs and three ace serves while Savannah Page ended the night with nineteen kills, thirty-two assists, and thirteen digs. Elliot said that her team picking up a victory in their first region match of the year was big for the team, especially playing in such a competitive region for volleyball. "It's exciting to get that first region win out of the way," said Elliot. "We know we have about four weeks of region play coming up and everything we have done before now has prepared us for this point. I've just really stressed to the kids to stay healthy and keep our focus as anything can happen with any team in this region. We're just going to take it one night at a time and we'll now turn our focus to Nation Ford." Boiling Springs will continue their region play on Thursday night when they travel to Nation Ford. Comments are closed.
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