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By Bill Bray

PERRYSBURG – Fremont Ross (13-7) took on the Wapakoneta Lady Redskins (14-8) in a Division I Sectional Volleyball final at Perrysburg High School Wednesday night.

After a first set loss of 22-25, Fremont Ross took a 5-0 lead in the second set after a service ace by Abigail Cahill. Wapakoneta tied the set at 17-17. After that, the Redskins’ 6’2” junior Kaleigh Palmer contributed two straight kills to give Wapakoneta a 17-19 advantage. Fremont Ross scored the next point when Broolynn Smith laid down a kill to close the gap to 18-19. But Ross would fail to score the rest of the set and it ended with a violent kill by Palmer to give the Redskins a 18-25 win. “We got tentative at the net during the second set,” coach Lindi Cahill said. “And we should not have, because they were not a team that was going to make great plays defensively.”

With their backs against the wall, Ross came out the third set and jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Lyndi Wolf scored with a kill only to follow it with a bad serve as Ross stayed in the lead at 6-2. Jocelyn Hines with a tip gave Ross an 8-3 lead as the Giants continued with their cushion. But suddenly with a service ace from Palmer the Redskins trailed only by one at 10-9. The Giants held on to a slim lead until Wapakoneta was able to tie the set at 16-16. There were two more ties as the set progressed. A 17-17 tie occurred when Caroline Cahill used a perfectly placed tip to knot the set. A Palmer kill followed by a Carlie Schroeder ace put Wapakoneta back on top 18-19. The score was tied once again at 19-19 after a bad Redskins serve. A Wolf block and kill followed by a service ace by Kelsey Weickert gave the Giants a 22-19 advantage. But Wapakoneta would not go away. They won three straight points to tie the set up again at 22-22. But two straight Wapakoneta error and a strong kill by Wolf gave Ross the set 25-22.

What would prove to be the final set was every bit as close as the third one. There were six tied scores during the final set.  Fremont Ross could never gain a lead during the set however and fell 23-25 to end the set and the match in favor of Wapakoneta. It was Palmer who led the way in the final set and throughout the match. Unofficially she had 10 kills in just the final set. The talented junior was a one-person wrecking crew as her teammates would set her up and she would connect for wicked kills through all four sets. It is estimated that she connected for close to 25 kills for the game.

“I felt like we came out kind of flat,” coach Lindi Cahill said after the difficult loss. “I’m not sure how you change that necessarily, that just has to be internal. I need to be the one to change things, but it is difficult, and I can’t put my finger on it. We kept telling the girls to stay aggressive, but I think they got to the point that they were just afraid to make mistakes and you just can’t win if you are afraid.”

So, with the 22-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 23-25 defeat, the season that was full of challenges for the Lady Giants comes to an end. Kelsey Weickert, Haleigh Rios and Caroline Cahill end their careers for the purple and white. “You know we are going to graduate three seniors and I hope that they feel when they go out in the world that they take some of this ability to battle through adversity with them,” Cahill said.

Brooklynn Smith gets a block during Sectional action against Wapakoneta

Fremont’s Lyndi Wolf nails a kill during second set Sectional action against Wapakoneta.

 

 
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