By Bill Bray
FREMONT — The Fremont Ross volleyball team, behind a total team effort, took the undefeated Perrysburg Lady Yellow Jackets to a fifth set. After splitting the previous four sets, the Giants scored a 18-16 victory in the deciding set to win a big game at the Purple Pit.
The first set had nine ties during the 26-point match. Ross surged after the final tie at 24-24. The end came with a block from sophomore Kilee Kidd.
In the second set, Ross used kills from Sydney Weickert, Rylann Fox and Lyndi Wolf to build an 18-11 advantage. Perrysburg used a kill and ace to cut the lead to five points at 18-13. Wolf quieted down the momentum momentarily with a kill for a 19-13 Ross lead. With the score 19-15, Fremont reeled off a 5-2 run making the score 24-17. The set ended at 25-19 with a kill by Kidd.
With their backs against the wall, the Yellow Jackets answered the bell and won the third set 25-18. Ross battled once again as the set had nine ties. The last tie was at 15-15 after an error serve by Wolf. The Giants did close the gap back to 18-17 thanks to two straight kills by Tierra Parker. Three out of the next four volleys gave Perrysburg kills as they went back ahead 22-18.
Perrysburg had full momentum in the fourth set as they showed their undefeated style winning the set 25-16. There was one tie during the set at 5-5. Again, Fremont continued to battle during the fourth set. With Ross within one at 12-11, Perrysburg began to pull away. The Giants got two good plays in a row out of Sydney Weickert who supplied Ross with two straight points with a kill and a service ace. By that time Perrysburg was holding a comfortable 23-16 lead and finished Ross off with a tip and kill to win the set sending the match into the fifth and deciding set.
With the deciding set tied at 2-2, Ross got to service aces in a row from freshman Rahnia Ruiz. Following was a kill by Weickert to put the Little Giants up 5-2. A long serve by Ruiz closed the gap to 5-3. Wolf stepped up with the next Ross point. Perrysburg came back to within one at 10-9 and then the match was tied up at 11-11. After a long serve by the Yellow Jackets, Wolf had a kill making the score 13-11. The fifth set was tied again at 13-13. Kidd scored to make it a 14-13 set. Perrysburg scored twice to regain the lead at 15-14. Wolf, again stepping up for Ross, tied the match again at 15-15. With the score tied at 16-16, Wolf gave Ross the win scoring the final two points of the match.
The statistics showed that Wolf ended the game with 21 kills. The talented junior also had 10 serve receives, two service aces, two block assists and 16 digs. Setter Sydney Weickert completed 34 assists, one service ace, seven kills including two in the all-important fifth set. Abby Cahill finished with 15 digs, eight assists and 34 serve receive attempts. Jocelyn Hines had two service aces and nine digs. Junior Brook Baacke, another back court specialist, added two service aces in the fifth set along with 15 serve receive attempts. Baacke also ended with 11 digs in the win. Two freshmen contributing in a big way were Tierra Parker. Parker finished the game with 10 kills and fellow freshman Rahnia Ruiz finished with six service aces and 10 digs. Kilee Kidd finished with eight kills and four digs.
Oregon Clay invades the Purple Pit Thursday for a Northern Lake League key matchup.