NEW WASHINGTON — Both Carey and Buckeye Central came into the match chasing league leader Mohawk.
The Lady Devils took a step in the right direction Thursday night in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference showdown, defeating Buckeye Central 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-19.
The schools were tied for second behind the Warriors (10-0, 6-0) in the N10 standings. With the victory Carey takes sole possession of second place, with the Buckettes slipping to third.
Buckeye Central (6-5, 4-2) head coach Missy McDougal’s squad is dealing with injuries and illness, but despite that got out of the gate well, built a 15-9 lead and went on to take the first set.
“The goal is to always get that first set win. The girls played hard. It was a frustrating night because we had someone not even here sick. Our libero (Ella Steele) was missing and another girl sick who’s missed two games this week,” McDougal said.
“Mia (McDougal) was sick and when she can’t swing. She gave us everything we had, but when we don’t have her hitting in the front row, that hurts us.”
Carey took the second set in a hard-fought battle, 25-23.
Carey (9-1, 5-1) head coach Stacy Bell was happy with the win on the road.
“We started off really strong. We got a little too comfortable and we let them in the door and then out of nowhere they picked up the slack on their end,” she said.
The Lady Devils controlled the net play most of the contest, thanks to a trio of players.
Kelsey Bursby had 18 kills, Rylee Row 13, and Parker Vackert 10. As a team the Lady Devils had 50 kills. Vackert led the team with 5 blocks. As a team Carey served at an 87% clip, paced by seniors Bursby and Row.
“It is our fair week, so we are missing a few of our players, not our complete regulars. But not having some girls in school all week and it kind of shows when we’re on the road and our momentum is not always there,” Bell said.
The third set saw Row and Vackert get things going early with kills and the Lady Devils built a 14-8 lead to win 25-18.
Seizing the momentum, Carey raced out to a 7-0 lead in the fourth and deciding set and held off a rally by BC that saw the hosts cut the lead to 21-17 before falling 25-19.
McDougal acknowledged Carey’s toughness.
“Kudos to them (Carey). They kept playing. I look at how close those scores were, and we played right with them, and we had our best hitter not hitting after she jammed her thumb,” she said.
“Everything just kind of went wrong. We don’t have a lot of depth and we can’t afford sickness and injuries and we’re battling that right now and have been the past week and a half.”
Kimmy Biglin, Mara McDougal and Adrienne Jury led the attack for Buckeye Central.
Next up for the Buckettes is a non-league game at Monroeville Saturday morning.
“We’ve got another big game coming up Saturday, and I don’t know who all I’ll have ready, but we’ll go out and play hard,” McDougal said.
“We weren’t at full strength and that’s not an excuse. It’s the reality. We look forward to playing Carey again. We’re all real close and it’ll come down to who makes fewer errors and who can be aggressive and get some kills. We’re not out of it yet.”
Carey is off until Monday when it hosts New Riegel.
“We’ve got probably four rotations where we are solid all the way around. Parker leads the team in kills right now, but right behind her or tied with her some nights is Kelsey so my outside and my middle really lead our offense. And Rylee Rowe does a real good job of reading and putting the ball down,” Bell said.
“When Macy Hoepf is in there on the right side or middle hitter. And when all four of them are in a line together, one of them rotates to the back row and it’s still enough to carry the weight of the team.”
Mohawk defeated Carey in five sets two weeks ago for the Lady Devils only loss.
“We went to five with them and Buckeye went to five with them also. There’s a lot to fight for. Seneca East pushed us as well,” Bell said.
“Being as successful as we were last season, we have a big X on our back. Everybody always wants to give us their best, so we have to be prepared to receive everybody’s best effort every day.”
Carey also won the junior varsity contest 25-21, 25-23.