Valley Sports ReportATHENS — Athens started fast and staved off a Williamson comeback bid in a 3-1 win here Thursday night in NTL volleyball action.
The Wildcats won the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-15, but the Warriors won the third set 25-21.
Athens closed out the match in the fourth set with a 25-16 win.
"The girls played well tonight," said Athens coach Heather Darrow.
"Williamson is relentless," she noted. "A five-point lead on Williamson is nothing and you are definitely not safe. They pick and pick and before you know it they will be tied up with you. We learned that lesson the third game and need to realize we've got to keep pushing forward."
Junior Ellie Mosher led Athens with 17 service points, including three aces, seven kills, and 12 digs, while senior Meg Wiles had 14 points, including five aces, 21 setter assists, and nine digs, and freshman Emi McQuay had seven points (four aces), five kills and one block.
Sophomore Kayla Forbes had six points, 27 digs, and three assists in the win, while freshman Evelyn Roy had five points (two aces), eight kills, and 12 digs, and senior Hannah Parrish had four points, four kills, and eight digs.
Junior Lainey Vosburgh had two points and 21 digs for the Wildcats, and senior Emma Mallare added three kills, two blocks, and three digs.
"It's refreshing looking at our kills and seeing how spread out they are," said Darrow. "And then the dig numbers with Kayla and Lainey is incredible.
"I know we always credit the big giant kills, however, if we don't have the stellar defense from the back row then we aren't going to be able to always run a fun offense, so I'm giving a big shout out to our defenders tonight who flew around and made big plays.
Meg did an awesome job moving the ball around and she was so close to finally getting that overpass kill," noted Darrow.
"Emma Mallore had some 'big' blocks tonight that gave us a confidence boost, and Ellie Mosher who has been on the mend is playing like smasher she is. It's fun to watch.
"Evelyn Roy and Emi McQuay really had some great hits tonight and played very well and confident for being a 9th-grader and 10th grader," added Darrow. "Hannah Parrish and Meg Wiles are really connecting on the back sets and Hannah has some great tricky shots. Kendall Gallasso came off the bench and was such a spark of energy it really got the team going."
Athens, now 6-2, travels to NEB Wednesday.
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Kendall Galasso. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens senior Meg Wiles (10). ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
