NEW WASHINGTON (Crawford County Now) — Buckeye Central head coach Paige Caudill said her team did a good job of “figuring it out when … it’s a slugfest … and nothing is pretty and you can’t really get on a roll.”
That was an apt description, but the Buckettes prevailed 25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 25-18 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference volleyball opener over Bucyrus here Tuesday night.
“Bucyrus played really good ball and it was about figuring out how to get the win,” Caudill said.
Caudill returns to the helm after previously coaching through 2020. She then spent a few years running the elementary school programs at Buckeye Central before coaching junior high the past two seasons.
The two county rivals battled it out in the first set, which featured 10 ties, with Bucyrus taking a 17-15 lead on kills by senior Aubrie Kimmel and junior Tori Stang, before falling.
The second set wasn’t as close as BC’s Milania Chamberlain and Megan Siefert went to work giving the Buckettes (2-1, 1-0) the 10-point win.
The Lady Red competed hard and in the third set went up 11-7 on a Buckeye Central ball hit out and went on to post the win.
Peyton Fackler had several of her 10 kills in that set. She and freshman Taylor Saull also had aces.
“We can’t even remember the last time Bucyrus has taken any sets from Buckeye. It was a great win for them and a confidence booster,” head coach Amber Christy said.
“We are just learning to play within ourselves and understand that when the ball is on our side of the net we control the ball. When things get going fast, sometimes they just want to swat at the ball. But we had a lot of long, long volleys.”
Buckeye Central fell behind 4-1 in set 4, but thanks to the play of Emma Keller, Joslynn Hensley and Emily Presler, came back for the 25-18 win.
Keller is the lone senior on the squad.
“They have some outstanding hitters, and their libero (sophomore Mayzie Hanlon) does an outstanding job,” Christy said. “We made mistakes, and they did too.”
For the Buckettes, the past success “means nothing,” according to Caudill.
“You’ve got to come out and play every game. They are still figuring out who they are. They can still win a game like that, and they can count on all of our team and it’s not on just one person’s shoulders to do the job,” she said.
“They learned some patience in themselves, but also you’ve got to keep pushing. You cannot sit back. The minute you do, someone’s going to come get you; being aggressive and pushing forward to the next point.”
Siefert had 9 kills and Chamberlain 7, unofficially.
“I’m not disappointed in the girls,” Christy added. “They were competitive; it was a good game tonight. The last few years we walked in here and when Buckeye walked through the door, everybody panics. I was really proud of how they stood up and played hard.”
For the Lady Red (1-2, 0-1), Stang recorded 11 kills, Fackler had 10 kills and Kimmel six more.
Reese Garvin registered 16 digs, while Stang had 3 solo and 2 assisted blocks. Freshman Bailey Doles had several nice plays.
“I play three freshmen and we don’t have numbers, because of injuries and one girl out with a surgery. They got thrown into varsity level from eighth grade volleyball,” Christy said.
“It’s a lot faster and they’re doing a really good job, and the other players are accepting them and helping them out. Tori played phenomenal ball tonight and the leadership from our seniors has been really good.
“Aubrie played well from the outside and she’s been dealing with a sprained ankle. Peyton came in and played tough. She’d been struggling and tonight she broke out of that.”
With the N10 expansion both teams will see new opponents.
“Our league’s definitely gotten a lot tougher. You’re talking about state champs in (Tiffin) Calvert, Willard. We have to play Mohawk and Calvert. I don’t know how that happened, but it did,” Christy said.
“We’ll just go in and prepare the best we can.”
The Lady Red beat Division III Marion Harding 3-0 on Monday.
Buckeye Central travels to Monroeville Saturday at 10 a.m. Bucyrus hosts Colonel Crawford Thursday at 5:30 p.m.