Rankin Tip in Fifth Set Helps A-C Valley Hold Off Clarion for Big KSAC Win

Chris Rossetti

Chris Rossetti

Published September 20, 2017 4:30 am
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FOXBURG, Pa. (D9Sports) — An innocent looking tip by senior setter Syd Rankin turned out to be possibly the biggest play of A-C Valley’s 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 15-11) win over visiting Clarion in a key KSAC match Tuesday night in Foxburg.

(Photo: A-C Valley head coach Doug Knox talks to his team during the second set of the Lady Falcons 3-2 win over Clarion Tuesday)

Rankin’s tip early in the fifth set seemed harmless enough until, like it had eyes, found floor between the Clarion defenders just over the net.

It couldn’t have come at a more important time for the Lady Falcons, who appeared on the verge of blowing a 2-0 lead in a match that was eerily similar to the District 9 championship match between these two teams two years ago.

After losing, and at times being dominated, in the first two sets, Clarion had rallied to force a fifth-and-deciding set thanks to the play for Maya Thornton, who recorded 10 of her match-high 19 kills in the third and fourth sets.

The momentum the Lady Cats gained in those two sets carried into the fifth set with Clarion jumping on top 6-0 in the set thanks to two kills by Thornton, a Maddie Schill kill and an Alexis Constantino ace.

But just when all seemed lost for the Lady Falcons, Rankin came up with her tip and Big Mo went the other way in a hurry.

A pair of hitting errors by Thornton and a kill by Kylee Eaton, who had a team-best 15 kills to go with 20 digs, got A-C Valley within 6-4, and a tip by Schill that made it 7-4, was only a temporary respite in what turned out to be a runaway train going downhill for the Lady Falcons.

An error, a net violation on the Lady Cats and a Josie Terwilliger kill quickly made it 7-7 and forced Clarion coach Shari Campbell to call timeout.

The break didn’t help.

Eaton, whose serving seemed to be giving Clarion fits, recorded an ace, another net violation was called on the Lady Cats and Eaton had another ace before Terwilliger, who had three of her eight kills in the fifth set, again put the ball down to make it 11-7 A-C Valley and force another Clarion timeout.

Eaton talked about the win.

Thornton tried to rally Clarion with a kill to make it 12-8, but back-to-back kills by Terwilliger and Cassie Schwalm made it 13-8.

Nerves might have gotten to A-C Valley a bit with a receiving error and a hitting error on Terwilliger allowing the set to tighten a bit at 13-10, but a hitting error on Clarion’s Hailey Sintobin pretty much sealed the deal making it 14-10, and then, after a long rally, this happened setting off a wild Lady Falcons celebration.

THREE SETS

1. Eaton was strong out of the gate for A-C Valley recording six kills in the first set and three more in the second to help the Lady Falcons gain the 2-0 advantage. Put the hot gym seemed to get to A-C Valley in the next two sets where they appeared sluggish falling behind 18-11 in the third set and 20-15 in the fourth set.
2. Clarion’s serve game didn’t help matters as the Lady Cats had 14 service errors in the match.
3. A-C Valley’s athleticism seemed to bother Clarion and the Lady Cats spent much of the night out of system. When Clarion did get into a rhythm with freshman Brenna Campbell feeding Thornton is when the match turned in its favor.

THE STATS

A-C Valley

Terwilliger added 30 digs to her eight kills. Olivia Boocks had seven kills and 35 digs, Rankin 19 set assists and 30 digs and Emily Wetzel 10 set assists and 13 digs.

Clarion

Thornton added 16 digs and two blocks to her 19 kills. Lexi Lauer had six kills, 17 digs and three blocks, Sintobin added five kills and seven blocks, Campbell had 36 set assists and 11 digs, Sydney Kiser had 20 digs and Constantino 22 digs.

WHAT’S NEXT

A-C Valley is at Cranberry Thursday. Clarion hosts Forest Area.

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