BRADFORD – Bradford earned its second win of the season on Saturday, defeating Northridge in straight sets.
With the 25-10, 25-23, 25-16 victory, the Lady Railroaders improved to 2-17 this season. Their other win this season was a five-set victory on Sept. 12 at National Trail.
“They played a lot better and more together than we have in the last couple matches so I was excited with that,” Bradford volleyball coach Holly Beam said of her team’s play against Northridge.
Bradford and Northridge seemed to be evenly matched in the early stages of the first set with the Railroaders holding a slight 12-8 lead. But from there they took complete control and finished the game on a 13-2 run to win the opening set 25-10.
The momentum turned in the second game as Northridge went on an 8-2 run to take a 13-6 lead midway through the set, but Bradford battled back with a 7-0 run to tie the score.
It was neck and neck for the next several minutes with ties at 14-14, 15-15 and 16-16. Once again Northridge gained the upper hand and went up 21-18. Bradford refused to give in, though, and finished the set on a 7-2 run to win 25-23 and go up two games to none in the best-of-five match.
“For some reason our second set is just our set that we don’t play very well together,” Beam said. “We can’t figure it out. But I was proud that they were able to come back and get that momentum back and then finish out the game.”
Having regained the momentum, Bradford was in control throughout the third set. The Railroaders scored the first five points of the set and led the entire game on their way to a 25-16 win and a three-set sweep.
“This is a good way to get some momentum into the end of the season,” Beam said. “I see us being able to possibly win a few matches here. I think we’ve finally figured out a good, solid lineup to where the girls are comfortable and they’re all working together, and hopefully we can get a couple more wins to finish out the season.”
Bradford will return to action with home matches on Monday and Tuesday against Fort Recovery and Newton.
