The Golden Eagles volleyball team ended their first weekend of spring competition dropping two matches in a tri hosted by Hocking College, in Nelsonville, Ohio on Sunday.
KSU Tusc opened the day losing in three straight sets to Terra State 25-15, 25-19 and 25-10. Lilli Peterson (Mineral City, OH / Tuscarawas Valley) led the Eagles with six kills, while Corinne Sanders (Dover, OH / Dover) had eight digs and Megan Stotzer (Mineral City, OH / Tuscarawas Valley) logged five assists.
In the final match of the day, the Golden Eagles dropped three straight to the host Hawks in their closest match of the young season. The Navy and Gold lost 25-20, 28-26 and 25-22.
Set one looked good at the outset as the Eagles jumped to a 3-0 lead, but they soon fell behind 12-6. They put together a 6-0 run to tie the match 12-12 as the lead see-sawed back and forth with five ties and 4 lead changes. The last lead change belonged to the Hawks who outscored KSU Tusc 8-4 down the stretch to win 25-20.
The Eagles clawed their way back in the second set that saw 11 ties and nine lead changes. The biggest deficit was four points as Hocking took a late 21-16 advantage after scoring four consecutive points. The Eagles scored three-straight to cut the lead to 21-20. Each team had a chance to win as KSU had a 25-24 lead before losing service and the Hawks led 26-25 before the Eagles knotted it up again at 26-26. The last two points belong to the winners who won the set on a service ace for a 28-26 win.
The final set was true to the matches form, as there were nine ties and six lead changes before the winning point was decided. In the middle part of the set, the Golden Eagles built leads of 14-10, 15-11 and 18-13 before getting caught by the Hawks who tied the set at 20-20 before taking a 22-21 lead. A service error by KSU Tusc put the ball back into Hocking's service and they promptly scored two straight points for a 24-21 lead and went on to win the match 25-22.
Mya Blochlinger (Millersburg, OH / Hiland) led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills and six digs for the match. Sanders had seven kills and five digs, while Stotzer added 10 assists and Peterson contributed five kills and five digs. Jamie Myers mixed in four service aces to go along with five digs.
KSU Tuscarawas hosts Hocking College and Westmoreland Community College in a tri match on Saturday, February 20th.