PHOTOS: Rising Sun volleyball rallies from big deficit to down Perryville in five-set thriller9/20/2018
The other thing hotter than the Rising Sun gym was the competition on the volleyball court. Playing in front of a boisterous, enthusiastic crowd, the Tigers roared back from two sets down to upend Perryville in a battle of perennial state title contenders Tuesday night, September 18. Rising Sun prevailed 22-25, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22, 15-7.
In doing so, the Tigers extended their conference win streak to nearly six years. This was by far the toughest test during that stretch. "We knew both of us were pretty equal teams and we knew anyone could take this fight and this win so both teams came in with the fighting spirit and Perryville played extremely well," Rising Sun setter/middle blocker Emily Jackson said. Momentum is both fickle and inexplicable. No one's quite sure how to acquire it or why it suddenly stops. One thing's for certain. After Rising Sun rallied back to force a decisive fifth game, momentum was squarely on the Tigers' side. Jackson made sure it stayed there. With the score tied at 2-2, Jackson notched consecutive kills and then had a block to give Rising Sun the lead for good. A Sophia Eckerd kill made it 6-3 and Perryville never got closer than two points the rest of the way. In the fifth game alone, Jackson collected two aces, three kills, three assists, and a solo block. "We just came in like it's our last game we're going to play together," Jackson said. "We came in and we knew this was going to be our hardest game of the season so we gave it our all. We knew it was now or never if we're going to do it." It was a valuable lesson for the Tigers. "It shows us that we can play well together and no matter what other teams throw at us we can stick together and push through it because we've been a little off lately and this was our first game we came back as a team, not as six individual players," said Jackson. Rising Sun relies heavily on Jackson's versatility. "The pressure we're putting on Emily is tremendous," Tigers' coach Rich Wilson said. "To set across the back and then come in the front and play middle blocker with the blocking and hitting duties. That she's still walking is amazing." With the fifth game a race to 15 points, there is little room for error. "In the fifth game, everything matters," said Wilson. "Everything matters. There's nothing that doesn't matter in a fifth game. And fortunately, our offense started to crank up a little bit and we got a few kills and we rocked them back on their heels." Sophia Eckerd recorded a match-high 14 kills for the Tigers. Jackson finished with eight kills, 14 assists, and three blocks. Kendal Lammers and Lauren Hudson each provided six kills. Megan Hoyle handed out 23 assists. Most importantly, the Tigers played their best with the match on the line. "In situations like that, you just try to keep them together," said Wilson. "You try to keep them playing as a team because the tendency for a player is to kind of like withdraw. Then all of a sudden you have six people on the court and not a team. As long as you can keep them communicating with each other, you stand a chance." Perryville felt like it let the UCBAC's big fish wriggle off the line. "The biggest thing that we're taking away from this game is the fact that we didn't finish when we had the opportunity going up two sets to none. We talked about that as a group," Perryville coach Matt Borrelli said. "And, obviously, we knew it was going to be a tight contest back and forth with two really good teams. We were just hoping that with the 2-0 lead we would have been able to finish out one of the next three sets." Game one was tied at 21 before the Panthers took command. In game two, Perryville stormed out to a 10-4 advantage and led throughout. "What do you do?" Wilson wondered. "I have no idea. How's that for a coach statement? When you're not playing well, it's a matter of the team finding itself in a manner of speaking. You know you can play better. You should be playing better. You should be serving better. You should be passing better. The offense is not going to come unless you're serving and passing well. So it's up to them. Really, it's up to them. In a match like this, it's all in here, it's the heart and soul." The Tigers didn't immediately find itself in game three. The Panthers led 5-1 before Rising Sun responded with five points in a row. With the game tied at 6, the Tigers got a sideout, then Breelyn Young served eight straight points. The hosts built a 20-8 advantage and won the game 25-12 to stay alive. Perryville held the lead for most of game four. After Rising Sun reeled off three straight to tie it at 20, Alex Leslie delivered a kill and Jordan Carr contributed an ace to put the Panthers back on top and just three points away from a landmark victory. Following a rare Perryville service error, the Tigers' Hudson served four consecutive points, two of those coming when the Panthers could not pass the serve. "Obviously, hats off to Rising Sun," Borrelli said. "They're a great team. They're undefeated in our conference for a reason every year. We feel like we played really well but we sill made too many errors in key moments during the game and we just didn't finish out when we had the 2-0 lead." Carr collected 22 assists, 15 digs, seven aces, and two kills. Becca Holman had 12 kills, three blocks, and five digs. Melissa Savin supplied 19 digs. Brianna Yadlosky notched three blocks and two kills. "Despite the fact that we lost, I'm definitely proud of how we played," said Borrelli. "The effort level was fantastic on both sides. I think Rising Sun should be proud of how they played. We should be proud of the way we played. It was a great game. Unfortunately someone has to win and someone has to lose. We just came up a little bit short but hats off to Rising Sun. It was a great game by both teams." Rising Sun had last lost a set to a conference opponent in the October 30, 2013, UCBAC championship match. Perryville captured the third set 25-18 before Rising Sun won in four. The Tigers have not dropped an UCBAC match since suffering a four-set defeat to C. Milton Wright on October 24, 2012. Wilson would prefer playing more competitive conference and non-conference matches. "I'd like to be doing this five, six, seven times a year," said Wilson. "It's great isn't it? You have fans from both sides yelling and screaming. You can't come to a volleyball match like this and not love it." Comments are closed.
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