NEW WASHINGTON — It took the host Buckettes a little time to find their rhythm in just their second outing. But once they did, the result was a 25-13, 25-7, 25-10 win over Bucyrus in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference volleyball opener Tuesday night.

Buckeye Central (2-0, 1-0) played well and kept Bucyrus on its heels most of the contest. Head coach Missy McDougal expects her team to be solid.

“We let them play with us a little bit, but we feel we have a pretty good team this year. We really wanted to come out with that quick start.

“Amber (Christy) gave us a little bit of motivation this last week when she said we were going to be down this year. The girls heard that on YouTube (WQEL Coaches Corner show) and I think they took it to heart,” she said.

“They wanted to come out and make a statement and show everybody in the league that we’re for real, and we can compete with anyone.”

Bucyrus (3-2, 0-1) hung tough in the first set and cut it to 15-11 and 16-12 before falling 25-13.

“All three of the McDougal girls are awesome. They’re great players and can put the ball down. But when we don’t get to base and when we don’t get to our coverage positions and we don’t call the ball, we put ourselves in the position that we aren’t going to win the game,” Christy said.

“These girls just need to learn on a fast-paced game they’ve got to get to where they’re supposed to be.”

Seniors Emma Tyrrell and Lillian Neumann had kills in that first set. Buckeye got strong play throughout from Mia and Mara McDougal.

“After that the whole team sort of went on a slant,” Christy said. “We just haven’t found that person to really step up and to be that major leader.

“I mean, Layla Ellis is my libero. I thought she did a really nice job today with what she was given, considering we didn’t have a block up on the net. We got to be able to count on our big girls and tonight just wasn’t our night.”

The big turning point came in the second set when the Lady Red took a 5-4 lead. But Buckeye Central answered by going on a 21-2 run and winning 27-5.

Mia McDougal had 12 kills and 5 aces. Kimmy Biglin added 9 kills and 2 blocks. Mara had 6 kills and 3 aces, along with 10 digs. Sophomore Maren McDougal chipped in with 7 aces, 2 blocks and 25 assists.

“I challenged them to hold Bucyrus to a certain level and they did that the last two sets, and I was proud of them,” McDougal said.

She has a veteran team even though there are just two seniors (Mia McDougal and Biglin).

“Last year we took our lumps for Buckeye Central. It was an off year (12-12, 8-6). We were super young. We’re still somewhat young, but they’ve got a year of experience so you can’t use that as an excuse anymore,” she said.

BC didn’t open the season until last Saturday with a win over Delaware Christian.

“It had been 11 days since we had played in a scrimmage. We want to use this week to really tune up for our big weekend we’ve got down at St. Henry. I thought we were firing on all cylinders tonight and that’s what we’re capable of every night,” McDougal said.

“We played with a lot of emotion, a lot of intensity.”

Christy said her team needs to put the loss behind them.

“We’ll turn around and play hard in the next games. People just have to get over the fact that, OK, they have big reputations. But you still just go in and play ball. You don’t go in intimidated whatsoever and I really didn’t think they were when we started.

“They started strong. We just couldn’t finish. We were making uncharacteristic errors and when you do that you don’t win games,” she said.

“We’ll go back into the gym tomorrow and they’re going to have to move a little bit in the gym and get ready for Thursday night and Seneca East. They’re no blowout. They’re a good team.”

Buckeye Central welcomes Wynford on Thursday in N10 play.

Christy said her team has the talent to win.

“It’s 100 percent up to them if they want to play. I’ve got some good athletes on the floor that can play the game. It’s just stepping up and doing it.”

Buckeye Central won the JV battle 25-8, 25-13.