The Chuckey-Doak volleyball team was undeterred by falling behind early on Monday and rallied to earn a 3-0 sweep of West Greene, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23.
“I was a little nervous in the beginning we started with a really big deficit, but I’m really proud of how we pushed back and stayed disciplined,” Chuckey-Doak Marissa Snapp said. “We clawed our way back and we pushed to finish. That is something we have talked about, pushing to the finish no matter what. Then it was good to see them carry that finish out and push in the second set to make sure we started with a lead.”
West Greene started the night in control of the first set, and Chuckey-Doak did not lead until 23-22. Nevertheless, the Lady Black Knight stole a momentum-swinging win, 25-23.
The set started with the Lady Buffaloes jumping in front 6-1 after Cassidy Hill came up with a big block and Morgan Moody scored on a tip and an ace.
Journey Lamons kept things going at 8-2 with a strong kill from the left side and a tip, but Chuckey-Doak was able to close the gap to 10-6 after Carlene Bishop, Belle Karriker and Jacey Taylor all landed kills.
An ace by Macy Church and a missed swing from the Lady Buffs closed the gap to 12-11.
Moody got West Greene going again with a tip, and well-placed swing from Aleea Aiken stretched the lead to 16-13.
Chuckey-Doak’s comeback started in earnest when Karricker slammed one from the middle to make it 21-19. Karricker came up with another big slam to narrow the margin top 22-21. Taylor hammered one from the left side to put the Lady Knights in front for the first time at 23-22.
Church finished out the 25-22 win with an ace.
“That took a lot of discipline from our back row to get us back in it and to get us into our offense,” Snapp said. “We had to spread the front row and try to set up as many one-on-one situations that we could. That was to our advantage.”
The momentum gained late in the first set carried over to the second set where the Lady Black Knights jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Taylor had three kills in the opening stretch.
Errors then allowed the set to be played evenly, but Church got an ace to drop between the Lady Buffaloes before Taylor landed a kill from the left side for a 14-6 lead.
West Greene was able to close the gap to 15-13 when Hill powered down a swing from the middle.
Chuckey-Doak answered with a kill from Taylor, a tip from Jayden Myers, two aces from Addy Pruitt, and a kill and block from Madison Shelton on the way to a 22-13 lead.
Chuckey-Doak took a 2-0 lead with a 25-16 win in the second set.
In the third set Chuckey-Doak got two kills and a block from Taylor to take the first lead at 5-2.
West Greene was able to swing in front at 7-6 after Deborah Julian put down first-hit kill and Madi Evans came up with a back-row kill.
Bishop tied things at 9-9 with a left-side kill and Chuckey-Doak took a 13-9 lead with Chloe Kirkpatrick serving.
West Greene brought things back to even at 13-13 after Addy Peters scored on a kill and a tip.
Taylor stopped the run with a kill from the back row and after she scored on a tip and another kill Chuckey-Doak was on top 17-13.
West Greene applied pressure to the very end with Aiken sneaking a tip past the block and Julian scoring on a block that cut the lead to 24-23. The set ended when the Lady Buffs sent a ball off the rafters that they could not get under again.
