SENECA – Throughout Tuesday’s key Tri-County Conference battle between visiting Woodland and host Seneca, the two teams aggressively pounded away at each other from the service line, each gaining the upper hand with a couple of aces here, a service error or two there until it came down to one last gasp.
And in this case, that belonged to the Warriors.
Woodland used seven aces to rally from behind as late as 20-19 in the first set before closing it out on a Kaleigh Benner ace. It also trailed in the second game 23-20 and 24-22 before a kill for sideout by Cloee Johnston and three points by Emma Highland – the last two on aces – erased the latter edge and gave the Warriors a tight 25-23, 26-24 victory over the Irish.
The verdict breaks a second-place tie between the two teams – 19-3 Woodland jumping to 5-1 in the conference and 12-7 Seneca falling to 4-2 – behind league leader Marquette at 6-0.
Hard serving was the key for both teams Tuesday – the visitors totaling 13 aces to go with 10 service errors, while the Irish collected eight aces and six errors on the night – before Highland got hot last but not least.
“At practice we run drills where they have to have so many in a row,” Woodland coach Michelle Pitte said. “So however many they miss the night before, that’s how many they have to have in a row, every girl, varsity and JV. We do that every day, so in tight games, I’ll just say to them, ‘It’s just practice, hit the ball.’ It really gets them going. … Tonight, we had a couple of missed serves that I was surprised about – that’s just not us – but it’s the last serve that really matters.
“I can’t tell you what I was saying to Emma. I can’t give away all my secrets,” she said with a laugh. “She’s one of the girls who gives us positive energy, so I was reminding them to play our game, who we are and how hard we’d fought. … Seneca’s an amazing team, so I’m proud of how we played.”
Two points by Alyssa Zellers gave Seneca a 10-6 edge in the opening game, but later two points by Highland tied it at 12 and an error and an ace by Clara Downey gave the visitors a 17-16 lead. A kill by Sophie Cato regained the edge for the Irish at 20-19, but with the set tied at 23, a sideout kill by Johnston and an ace by Benner capped the rally.
Seneca came back firing in the second set with three straight aces by Cato and four points by Leslie Klicker – two aces, followed by two Teegan Johnson kills – to widen the gap to 13-7.
But Woodland climbed back in with a sideout and service point seemingly every time until a point by Downey cut it to 20-19 and an ace by Shae Simons made it 23-22 Irish. A tip by Cato put the home team a point away from the win, but Johnston’s tip just inside the right sideline for sideout brought Highland to the line for the last time.
Johnston slammed a kill for her first point before Highland served aces around a Seneca timeout to wrap up the win.
“They just got hot last, that’s a good way to put it. That’s spot on,” Seneca coach Noah Champene said. “I told my girls that one of the things I was most proud of was their aggressive serving. That was our game plan coming in and we attempted to carry that out. We missed a couple here and there, but there was some lack of execution at the net and in the passing game at the wrong time and that cost us. In a tight game like that, credit Woodland. They made the plays when it mattered.
“Sophie had a really nice run, the kind of run you need to get on when facing a very good defensive team, but at the same time, when you don’t execute well in other areas at all times, you’re going to fall short.”