ANSONIA – The Ansonia Lady Tigers defeated the visiting Yellow Springs Lady Bulldogs 3-1 in four sets of Saturday volleyball action.
“I’m proud of our girls,” said Ansonia coach, Darcy Buckingham. “We fought and scrapped hard.”
The Lady Bulldogs brought an impressive 3-1 into the match while Anonia was standing at 2-2 on the young season.
The opening set saw ties of 2-2, 5-5, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 before the Lady Tigers took advantage of 6-unanswered points to lead 18-12 and bring a timeout from the Yellows Springs bench.
The Lady Bulldogs battled back to even the score at 23-23 before Ansonia scored the next 2-points to win the first game 25-25.
Set No. 2 had the Lady Tigers jumping out to a 10-5 advantage with the visitors calling a timeout. Ansonia was leading 12-7 when the Lady Bulldogs scored 7-straight points to lead 14-12 bringing a timeout from the Anonia bench.
The Lady Tigers got even at 14-14 only to let the lead slip away and trail 15-18. Ansonia made a 3-0 run to knot the score at 18-18 and 19-19. The visitors pushed ahead 23-21 before the Lady Tigers mounted a 4-0 run to close out the set with a 25-23 win and go up 2-0.
Ansonia struggled in third set play falling to the Lady Bulldogs 25-20 sending the match to a fourth set.
The Lady Tigers were quickly looking at a 1-7 deficit to open fourth set play bringing a timeout from the Ansonia bench.
“I told them we have to start playing our game,” Coach Buckingham said of her timeout. “We were not playing our game at all. Our back row wasn’t getting good passes, our setters couldn’t set.”
Ansonia battled back to even the score at 18-18 before falling behind 20-18 with the game on the line.
“Our game is when our hitters and front row can attack,” Buckingham stated. “That’s our game and we just weren’t doing that. We called the timeout and they fought for everything and they brought it back.”
The Lady Tigers went on to outscored the Lady Bulldogs 7-4 to win the final set 25-22 and earn the non-conference win by a 3-1 score.
“Our game is when our hitters and front row can attack,” Buckingham stated. “That’s our game and we just weren’t doing that. We called the timeout and they fought for everything and they brought it back.”
The Ansonia Lady Tigers had an impressive showing at the serving line in earning the win over Yellow Springs.
“It was a team effort,” Coach Buckingham said following the victory. “Serving is usually our strong point. As long as we can keep our service runs and not make silly mistakes and give up our serve – games are usually won with our serves.”
Ansonia improves to 3-2 on the season while Yellow Springs drops to 3-2.
