ATTICA — When the game was on the line, Galion players went to junior outside hitter, Ashley Dyer.
Trailing 12-11 in the pivotal fifth game, and needing just four points to win, the Tigers did what they did all night, they attacked the net.
Madelyn Schieber knocked down a kill to tie the match, before Kaya Capretta and Dyer each scored kills, giving the Tigers a 14-12 lead, just one point from a huge victory.
After Huron held the match by one point, after 6-foot-2 senior Mackenzie Heil scored on a kill, the Tigers went to the net again.
It was Dyer’s turn again. The junior hit a hard spike that was tipped by a Huron player at the net, but the ball found the floor and pandemonium broke out on the Galion side of the gymnasium.
Galion, the state’s 17th-ranked Division III team, battled second-ranked Huron shot-for-shot all night. And it was the Tigers who came away with an impressive 25-14, 18-25, 20-25, 25-18, 15-13 win in the finals of the Division III district tournament Wednesday night at Seneca East High School.
The Tigers not only won a district title but advanced to the regional tournament at Millbury Lake High School. Galion will face either Milford Center Fairbanks, the top seed in the Mount Vernon district, or eighth-seeded Worthington Christian. That match won’t be played until Saturday at 5 p.m. at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
But with the match on the line, it was a Galion junior who was hoping she would get the ball in a critical situation.
“It felt awesome and I’m glad I got the ball,” Dyer said of the final shot. “I had a good feeling that I was going to put it down.”
Dyer said that she felt several emotions during a match that went back-and-forth all night.
“Excitement, nervous, scared and more excited and pumped,” Dyer said.
Galion coach Kathleen Davis said that Dyer has come a long way.
“She has drastically improved this season,” Davis said. “We rely on her a lot. We’re pretty excited with the way everyone has played. I think we really stuck together as a team and played as a team tonight.”
The Tigers faced a talented and big Huron team and beat them at their own game, playing strong at the net, and having one of the best defensive nights on the season.
Galion made several outstanding digs that kept Huron off the board.
“That has probably been our biggest thing this season, we’ve got to be quick,” Davis said. “We have to make sure we’re quick in every single play. And we don’t slow down.
“The quicker we are the more aggressive we are. That’s just how our mentality has been all season,” she added.
In a match that had ebbs and flows from minute-to-minute, the Tigers came out and attacked the shell-shocked Huron team.
Galion scored the first five points of the match as junior Hailey Young scored on a kill and a block and increased the lead to 7-2 on a Young kill.
After Huron cut the lead to 7-4, Galion scored nine of the next 10 points. Jordan Roderick had a kill, Jillian Capretta added a pair of kills, Dyer scored on a kill before Capretta added a pair of kills. After Madelyn Schieber scored on a kill, Galion held a 16-5 lead and cruised to the first game win.
The second and third games were Huron wins. Jessica Holsapple had three kills in the second game and teammate Tess Humphrey added two as the Tigers grabbed a 21-13 lead.
A Dyer kill cut the lead to 21-14, but four Huron kills down the stretch ended the set.
Galion led 4-2 early in the third set, but Huron scored six straight points on Casey Brown serves gave the Tigers control of the set.
At 20-14, Galion reeled off five straight points Ella Payne serves to cut the lead to 20-19.
But Huron scored four straight points at the end of the set to take a 2-1 lead.
Down 2-1, Galion refused to go away.
“Things really came together tonight,” Davis said. “We really showed perseverance and really tried to keep fighting for every single point.”
Galion led 6-4 early in the fourth set before scoring eight straight points, four coming on Jillian Capretta kills, an Ella Payne block and a Schieber kill.
At 15-5, the Tigers were in complete command. Huron did manage to cut the lead to 19-15 late in the set but could get no closer.
Dyer had two kills, Schieber added a kill, Roderick and Capretta each added kills, moving the match to the decisive fifth set.
“It’s huge,” Dyer said of winning a district crown. “The last time we won a district was a couple of years ago, so this is huge for us, being sort of a younger team and I’m glad we’re going to the regional.”
Davis said that facing the bigger Huron team was something her team worked on in practice.
“They’re very big and very large so we knew that we had to come in; they were going to hit over our blocks at times and we just had to be ready and be aggressive.
“We have been working all season about hitting to spots; making sure we focus on their side and make sure we look at the open spots and that’s what we have to hit,” Davis added. “And we did that really well tonight. The back row was telling the front row exactly where to hit, how to avoid the block and it really came together tonight.”