Vandalia narrowly beats Litchfield
The coaches cringed when Holly Goldsmith’s first attack attempt of last Thursday’s volleyball match was blocked by Litchfield.
Throughout the season, in-game adjustments have been one of the weakest parts of Vandalia’s repertoire, and with Goldsmith’s spike being one of the team’s most valuable assets, the fear of not being able to adjust set in.
Luckily for coach Allison Smith, history doesn’t always repeat itself in sports, and her team won the match in three sets, 21-25, 25-14, 25-21.
“This is the first time I’ve seen our team adjust to what’s going on, successfully,” Smith said. “Maybe it’s maturity, but I don’t know.”
Whatever the reasoning, it came at a good time, considering that the team’s regional matches are just two weeks away. Smith has said all season that being able to make adjustments and do the little things is the only way to compete at that level.
In the first set, the Vandals quickly fell behind 7-0, forcing Smith to burn a timeout. The team did not panic, though, outscoring Litchfield 20-10 across the next 30 serves to take a 20-17 lead.
That scoring run was aided, in large part, by Taylor Parrish, who smashed five aces in eight serves to give the Vandals a lead.
But Litchfield didn’t get down on their luck, allowing Vandalia just two more serves the rest of the match, containing Haley Wollerman and Ellie Ehrat, two of the Vandals’ best.
Rachel Helgen finished out the set with aces on three of the final four serves for the Purple Panthers.
Clearly disappointed by the loss, the Vandals took an early lead and held it during the second set.
The set was close until Amy Walton broke it open with two service aces during a string of eight straight serves that gave the Vandals a 16-9 lead. Parrish would add two aces of her own later in the set.
That momentum would not stick, however, as Vandalia fell to an early 8-1 deficit in the third set, again forcing Smith to use an early timeout.
But after the timeout, Wollerman and Ehrat served nine of the next 11 points to move the Vandals into a tie at 10.
The Panthers would regain their lead, keeping it until Wollerman returned to serve with the teams tied at 19. With the help of two Goldsmith blocks, Wollerman propelled Vandalia ahead 23-19 to set up the match win.
“I told them at the end of the game, ‘You need to look at each other and thank everybody because everybody contributed in some way, shape or form all the way down to the bench,” Smith said.
“If we wouldn’t have had everybody contributing,” she continued, “I don’t think we would have won.”
She added that Megan Shreve and Ehrat became important players on the floor, because Austyn Krueger was limited with a strained shoulder muscle.
Game Stats
Kills – Goldsmith, 11; Krueger, 6; Parrish, 4; Shreve, 2; Whitney Schaal, 1.
Aces – Parrish, 7; Wollerman, 3; Schaal, 3; Walton, 2.
Blocks – Goldsmith, 6; Sierah Ruffner, 3; Wollerman, 1.
Digs – Schaal, 6; Parrish 4; Wollerman 4; Krueger, 3; Ehrat, 3.
