NEW WASHINGTON (Crawford County Now) — Buckeye Central, at least for now, is in command of league volleyball.

By virtue of an impressive sweep of Carey in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference match Thursday night, the Buckettes hold sole possession of first place as round two of play has begun.

“We were wanting to come out to a quick start,” Buckeye Central head coach Missy McDougal said. “For us it was about our passing. When we were over at Carey and lost the first time we didn’t pass the ball well. We were out of system the whole time and we knew if we could get the ball to our hitters we’d be OK.”

There wasn’t much the hosts didn’t do well in taking a 25-13, 25-15, 25-12 win and avenging the Blue Devils 3-2 victory on Aug. 26.

“As a team, that’s the best we’ve played this year. It was day-and-night difference. Even in our win the other night (3-0 over Seneca East), the girls played with each other, and they played for each other,” McDougal said.

“We hardly had a ball hit the ground tonight. They played aggressive and scrappy, and it was a testament to how good they can be this year.”

With the win Buckeye Central moves to 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the league. Carey falls to 9-4 and 6-2.

BC started quickly building a 10-5 lead as A.J. Jury, Maren McDougal and freshman Milania Chamberlain led the way. Carey cut the lead to three on Ava Troiano’s ace, but the Buckettes pulled away to win the first set.

Carey head coach Stacy Bell lamented the effort her team put forth.

“We did not show up tonight, point blank,” she said. “Pretty much, we could not pass the ball and it’s important to pass it when they have great servers. Our defense wasn’t there tonight, both at the net and in our receiving and many of our digs. Offensively, we didn’t execute the ball.

“We didn’t have the momentum or the energy to come back,” Bell said.

Set two was a bit tighter, but 15-11 was as close as Carey could get. That came after Abbi Seager and Emily Brodman recorded kills.

Buckeye pulled away after Carey had two calls for under the net and a block by McDougal.

“Milania has the opportunity to put a ball down every time she goes up. She’s a freshman and is going to make a few mistakes. She had a phenomenal game and was putting the ball down where they weren’t getting a hand on it,” McDougal said.

Set three started off with Brodman putting Carey ahead 1-0, but that quickly changed. The two teams traded points up until 6-6, and then a tandem block by Emma Keller and Chamberlain gave BC the momentum back.

Several other young players have contributed to the Buckettes’ success.

“We have a freshman libero (Mayzie Hanlon), and she had probably her best game. She was vocal on the court. She had some digs, and her passes were at the 10-foot line,” McDougal said.

“We had options on all of our hitters and that’s what makes a team good. When you can’t key in on one person. I thought we moved the ball around well tonight. Megan Siefert has come a long way. She hit the ball hard.”

McDougal said despite the team’s record it hadn’t played well recently.

“We put it together. Now we need to maintain this level of play and keep getting better,” she said. “We wanted to come out and control our destiny and not rely on somebody else to upset somebody.”

Buckeye Central hosts Upper Sandusky on Tuesday, travels to Bucyrus Thursday and visits Ontario in a non-league game Saturday.

“It’s a good place to be in, but now we have a target on our backs. You’ve got to come out focused and ready to play every night.”

For Carey, it’s time to regroup. First up is a game at Bluffton on Saturday, then league games also against Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky next week.

“We still have an opportunity, but we have to win out. If we beat Mohawk the next time around we still have an opportunity to get part of the league,” Bell said.

“We’ve been doing a lot of mindset training. If we can learn from our mistakes, learn and grow and move on and correct it, then we have a chance. It’s just being resilient and showing up for one another.”

STAT LINE

  • Jury had 11 kills and Chamberlain 8 for Buckeye Central.
  • McDougal recorded 23 assists, along with 3 kills.
  • Megan Siefert had 12 digs, Aleyse Siefert 10 and Hanlon 9.
  • Seager had 6 blocks for Carey.
  • Rylie Stoops led with 6 kills and 14 digs. Brodman added 8 digs.

The Buckettes won the JV match 25-22, 18-25, 25-10.