STARS HOLD OFF ADAMS CENTRAL IN FIVE-SET THRILLER
BERNE—2A Sectional 37 volleyball action began Thursday night with Adams Central, 17 – 13 on the season, taking on South Adams who was 25 – 6. In an epic five-set match, the Lady Starfires would prevail by scores of 25 – 20, 25 – 16, 18 – 25, 28 – 30 and 15 – 9 to advance to the semifinal match on Saturday against Manchester.
South Adams came out strong and controlled much of the play for the first two sets. In set one, they took a 16 – 4 lead and though the Lady Jets fought back, the Lady Stars took the set. In set two, the score was knotted at eight when South Adams went on a fourteen to four run to pull away. In both sets, the Lady Starfires had the better of the net play and looked put the match away in three sets. Macy and Peyton Pries as well as Cora Baker looked to be too much.
Set three was a different story, however, as Adams Central got the early advantage at eight to three. It was strong serving and aggressive attacks at the net that gave Adams Central the set as Makenna Schwartz from the outside, Hillary Tobias and Paige Hamilton from the middle found their stride and provided the offensive punch.
Set four was an incredible battle as neither team led by more than three until Adams Central opened up a six point advantage at 24 – 18 and were one point away from tying things up at two sets apiece. The Lady Starfires had other ideas and rattled off six straight points to even things up. After four lead changes, AC came out with a 30 – 28 set win. The fifth set belonged to South Adams as they took it 15 – 9.
Both coaches were proud of their squads. “We fought hard,” said AC coach Tami Henry. “We competed and that’s what we strive to do.” Coach Ashley Buckingham had similar things to say about her team. “I felt it was a great team effort. We showed a lot of resilience after losing 3 and 4 to come back and win the match.” Baker led the Lady Stars with 24 kills and Tobias led AC with 20.