Arcanum volleyball team dispatches Dixie

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NEW LEBANON – Arcanum was able to vanquish the Southwestern Buckeye League’s Dixie Greyhounds in three sets Monday evening to start the last week of the regular season.

The first two sets went as planned, but the last set saw a scrappy Dixie team play even with Arcanum for the first half of the game. Arcanum had to get back into its groove, and when the Trojans did they punched the accelerator and breezed past the Hounds for the win. The scoring was 25-11, 25-16, 25-13.

Dixie is small team and the Arcanum front line used its size and athleticism to dominate. And when the team was on, the back three were digging up everything that Dixie could send their way, and the sets were on their mark. The Trojans looked their best in the first two sets where they really dominated.

In the first set Dixie did tie it at 7-all, but Arcanum went on a 15-3 run after that tie and ended the match when Jenna Haney blocked Dixie and got the game point. She would lead the team in blocks with four.

In the second set Arcanum played crisp and smooth. The Trojans had a nice 5-0 run to start the match with Gracie Garno serving. They had a little lapse about halfway through and let the Greyhounds make a little run, but they went back to work for an easy win.

That last set was close at first with the two teams tying several times; it was 6-all, 7-all, 8-all then 9-all. It looked like Dixie was determined to make one last stand.

But after a Camille Pohl spike put Arcanum up, it was all Arcanum from there. It seemed to spark something inside, and the Trojans won the last set going away.

“We play like that every once in a while,” Arcanum volleyball coach Macey O’Dell said. “The girls have spells like that from time to time. It happens during a season. I’m not going to get down on them if they have a little let down.

“We’re playing hard. We’re playing as a team,” O’Dell said. “We’re playing as a team right now, and that is what we need come tournament time. When we play as a team, we feel pretty unstoppable.”

Leading the team in kills on the night were Pohl with 12, Audrey Heiser with 10 and Garno with seven. Pohl also had five aces.

Arcanum will finish out its regular season this week against Cross County Conference foes Newton and Mississinawa Valley – playing three matches in four days. Currently Arcanum is sitting at third place in the conference, which isn’t bad when you consider that first place Miami East and second place Franklin Monroe are both state ranked.

As it so happens, the draw for the state tournament was this past weekend and first up for Arcanum is these same Dixie Greyhounds. So the two teams got a chance to size each other up a week ahead of time. Of course, Arcanum will be hoping for the same outcome again on Oct. 17.

Arcanum’s Audrey Heiser goes up for a kill during a volleyball match against Dixie on Monday in New Lebanon.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Audrey-Heiser-WEB-1.jpgArcanum’s Audrey Heiser goes up for a kill during a volleyball match against Dixie on Monday in New Lebanon. J. C. Tilton | For The Daily Advocate

By J. C. Tilton

For The Daily Advocate

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