Junior Addie Marker attacks the National Trail defense from the middle.
Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Ansonia celebrates after getting a block on the Lady Blazers.
Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
By Drew Terhall
DailyAdvocate.com
ANSONIA — Even with a bump in the road, Ansonia High School volleyball came out firing against National Trail High School. The Lady Tigers defended their home court with a 3-1 win over the Lady Blazers.
Ansonia opened the match with a 25-15 first set win. Everything was going right for the Lady Tigers.
Then the second set came. It started out close as both teams went back and forth.
Eventually, National Trail raced out to a double-digit lead. The Lady Tigers were having problems with their serve receive and couldn’t get anything going.
Ansonia held firm and found a way to make it a close set. Their front line play got them back into the set. The blocking up front and the offensive attack ignited some form of a comeback.
It was not enough to steal the second set away from the Lady Blazers. Ansonia fell, 22-25, in the second set.
Head coach Darcy Buckingham said she has told her team most of the season that they have to weather the storm and keep up their level of play up while they are down. To her, the team did just that in the second set.
“To me, that’s growth. Throughout the season we’ve been working on that. I’m proud of them. It’s a lose, but we fought back and made it close. We finished strong at the end,” Buckingham said.
The third and fourth set went Ansonia’s way. They kept their momentum from the end of the second set and continued to play better volleyball to end the match.
The serving game started to help Ansonia and the serve receive was still good enough to get some rallies going.
The front line kept getting their hands on the Blazers’ attacks. On offense, they stretched out the Blazers’ defense by hitting towards the far side of the net.
The Lady Tigers found the open spaces and were able to come out with a victory. They won the third set, 25-17, and the fourth set, 25-19.
After a game with Troy Christian, Ansonia will have two conference games left on the season. Buckingham said she wants to make a push to get close or at .500. They are currently 8-11 with a 4-5 conference record.
“The next couple of games are very winnable. I want us to finish strong, play with confidence and have that excitement,” Buckingham said.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]
