Eels drop season opener to South Vermillion | Brazil Times
Clay City shot out of a cannon in Monday’s high school volleyball season opener inside the Eel Dome.
The host Eels built several seven-point leads in the first set against South Vermillion, and looked like they were on their way to grabbing a hold of an early advantage.
But things started to unravel later in the set, which ultimately went to the Wildcats.
Clay City fought back but wasn’t able to avoid the season-opening 3-0 sweep.
“We have a couple of rotations that we still need to figure out,” said Clay City head coach Asie Jeffers. “If we can keep the momentum and the drive, we’ll be ok. The defense is very, very consistent. Our defense was solid … We just have to counterbalance that.”
South Vermillion moved the ball around the court throughout the evening, but when it put points on the board, it was the tandem of Olivia Thomas and Jordan Luce that were planting the ball into the Eel Dome floor on a consistent basis.
Jeffers credited Thomas and Luce for taking over the match at different times and not allowing the Eel offense to get going.
“They’re fast and they’re quick and they can elevate. They’re great hitters,” Jeffers said of the Wildcat hitters.
But what was most important, she noted afterwards, was the experience her young group, especially those at the net, gained from playing against the potent duo. It’s something that should benefit them throughout the season as they get comfortable playing at the varsity level for the first time, Jeffers said.
“It’s hard when you’re going up against some power hitters like that, and we have some younger girls in the front row, so it’s going to take some time for them to get adjusted to that because when you’re a freshman or a sophomore going up against that for the first time, it’s easy to be like, ‘Woah,'” Jeffers said. “We have to adjust a little bit to that, and even though the outcome wasn’t what we were hoping for, that was the best defense we’ve seen from that group, especially this early in the season. For us to come out and have that kind of fire and drive, that gives us something to build on.”
Clay City held comfortable leads during the first set – 10-3, 11-4, 12-5, 15-8 – before ultimately dropping it by a score of 25-21. South Vermillion then won the second and third sets by respective scores of 25-18 and 25-23 to finish the sweep.
In the loss, Kelli Riggs had seven assists and two aces; Mallori Bettenbrock had four kills; Marley Rea had three kills; Maven Oberholtzer had one kill and one ace; and Anna Boring had three kills. Clay City wraps up the rest of the week on the road at West Vigo (Tuesday) and South Putnam (Thursday).