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OVAC Volleyball: Union Local denied in Class 4A by Beaver Local

Photo/CODY TOMER UNION LOCAL'S Casey Kildow serves during Saturday night's OVAC Class 4A championship match against Beaver Local. The Jets fell in three sets.

MORRISTOWN — Just a week after dropping from the ranks of the unbeaten in the Buckeye 8 finals, Beaver Local came to play in the OVAC Class 4A Championship finals and handed its Buckeye 8 final opponent, Union Local, its first loss of the season in a straight set win on the Jets home court in the playoff final.

With a good-sized and excited crowd inside the Jets’ Hangar, Coach Sarah Lowe’s Lady Beaver registered three straight 25-22 wins to capture the OVAC 4-A crowd and push their pre-Sectional record to 21-1. They will take on Philo in their post-season opener this week on the home court.

Union Local, which had coasted through 20 opponents before squaring off with the Beavers on Saturday, saw its mark drop to 20-1. For coach Kaye Sechrest’s club, it marked the first match in which they did not win the opening set. UL will open the sectionals on their court this week, facing Harrison Central.

“We faced them last week in the Buckeye 8 and they won in three sets. This week we put in a lot of work and played well today,” Coach Lowe said. “We were very fortunate that we were able to keep our unforced errors to a minimum and we have a strong program. We have 15 players on our roster traveling with us for the post-season. All are extremely talented and that makes it hard to decide who to put on the floor each night.”

“I couldn’t be prouder of those that executed tonight,” she added. “It was a big win for us tonight, both from the floor and the sidelines and our fans in the stands.”

“We have very strong defenders and we battled back and forth between our liberos because they both work so hard not letting that ball hit the floor,” Lowe continued. “And we can’t think about our hitters without thinking about our defenders. They all play as a team. We have a great team.”

Beaver received fine efforts from a talented lineup including Grace Hill who finished with 13 kills and four blocks, Karlee Furman who added nine points, two aces, five kills, 25 assists and seven digs. Brooke Talbot played well with four points, two aces, 14 kills, 17 assists and 13 digs while Elizabeth Kolkowski added 11 kills and two blocks.

After the game, an excited Talbot was quick to point out, “I think we kind of settled in because we had the pressure off us after last week and then they came in with the pressure of being undefeated. “

“We came in very prepared and well, it was just unbelievable,” the younger Beaver spike added.

Union Local played well and was just a few mistakes shy of a completely different outcome. Casey Kildow led the Lady Jets with 12 points, 11 kills, 31 spikes, 19 assists and eight digs while Torre Kildow kicked in with 17 points, 16 kills, 45 spikes, 12 assists and nine digs. In and four digs, Baylee Rex had three points, three kills, eight spikes and four digs, Keira Gregor contributed three points, two kills, five spikes and Reagan Vinskovich closed with six points, three kills, 17 spikes, 10 digs and two block.

“They were on tonight,” a disappointed Coach Sechrest after the loss. “They were all close. It could have gone either way. That’s just the way it goes. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. They just played better.”

“We knew they were going to be here,” the UL coach added. “We just made a few mistakes and they were on tonight.”

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