Riders sweep Trojans in non-league affair
In a non-conference battle on Monday night, St. Marys defeated Botkins 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 to earn the straight-set victory.
Lily Rammel recorded a gamehigh five aces for the Roughriders (211). Leah Walter had a team-high six kills and she added two blocks. Halle Huston finished with five kills and one ace and Brynn Clark contributed four kills and one block.
“It was a good win for us,” said St. Marys coach Caley Yoder. “The girls played strong and I just wanted them to control the tempo, take care of the ball and eliminate our errors. Just make the team across the net earn every single point. I think we did a nice job hitting really aggressively tonight.”
The Roughriders got off to a hot start, taking a 6-1 lead and forcing Botkins (4-6) to take a timeout.
Botkins didn’t back down though and were able to get their offense going, cutting the lead to 12-11, forcing St. Marys to take time, and then tying the game at 14 apiece.
St. Marys took control back and Rammel recorded two of her aces near the end of the set. The Roughriders won the last three points to take the set at 25-17.
The second set was the closest of the evening as each team battled back and forth.
St. Marys had its biggest lead of the set at 11-6, forcing Botkins to call a timeout.
The Trojans then proceeded to go on 9-5 run and then took the lead at 19-18. St. Marys regained the lead at 23-22 and held on to win the set.
The third set saw St. Marys earn their biggest lead of the set at 17-11. Botkins cut into the lead slowly but steadily with some key serves.
The Roughriders called a timeout after Botkins cut it to two points at 22-20.
Following the timeout, St. Marys regained their composure, winning the last three points and the match.
“Our defense started out kind of slow and it took us a little bit to get into the groove but we finished strong defensively and offensively,” said Yoder.
Botkins coach Bryan Trego said his team wasn’t able to run enough offense to get things going on Monday night.
“Our serve-receive was shady. We weren’t getting the ball to the center enough to get them off balance,” he said. “That’s really what put us in a hole I felt like. They’re a decent enough team and nothing away from them, but if we run a little bit of offense that keeps them out of their offense.”
Yoder noted that while the win was only the Roughriders’ second on the year, it will hopefully build some
momentum for the rest of matches on the schedule.
“This is only our second win for the season but we’re hoping to finish out the WBL pretty strong,” she said. “The start of our schedule was pretty brutal, starting out against a lot of stateranked teams but I think that just helps us prepare. Especially when we’re able to take Coldwater or Marion Local into four sets.
“It’s just helping us get better and really play up to the level that we need to.”
The Roughriders will travel to Kenton on Thursday to take on the Wildcats in Western Buckeye League action.