Blue Angels handle hostile environment, beat Lady Pirates for key road win

Staff

6 days ago

2 min read

WHEELERSBURG — Perfection vs. Perfection set up the perfect situation.

For the first time this season, the Gallia Academy Blue Angels found themselves in a hostile environment against a Wheelersburg Lady Pirates team that was aiming to challenge them from start to finish.

Both teams came into the non-league volleyball match unbeaten with Gallia not losing a single set and the Lady Pirates also unbeaten and losing just one set all season.

The Lady Pirates pushed Gallia into unfamiliar territory as well, winning a set against the Blue Angels who had swept 7 straight teams prior to Tuesday. Despite losing their first set, the Blue Angels beat the Lady Pirates 3-1.

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POST GAME INTERVIEW: We talked to Gallia Academy's Rylee Saunders, Aubree Frazier and Abbie Clark after their 2-1 match win over Wheelersburg. The girls talked about how the team has been able to work together, how they handled playing a tough opponent in a hostile environment, and what their team needs to focus on as the season goes on.

The Blue Angels attack was led by Piper Pugh with 27 kills while Aubree Frazier had 19 and Aspen Barnes got 12. Chloe Bennet served up a game-high 4 aces, with 3 of those coming in order to close out the second set.

Set One

Gallia opened up the match with a commanding 7-1 lead to seize the momentum. Wheelersburg rallied back to get within 11-7. But 4 straight points opened Gallia’s lead back up to 15-7 and the Blue Angels rolled their way to a 25-12 score and took a 1-0 match lead.

Set Two

The Lady Pirates opened up the second set by taking a 5-2 lead and showed early signs of trying to shift the momentum. Gallia rallied to take the lead but Wheelersburg closed the gap to 20-17 late in the set. However, that would be as close as the Lady Pirates would come. Bennett closed out the set with 3 straight aces to give Gallia 2-0 advantage and a chance for their eighth sweep.

Set Three

The third set brought out the best in both teams and brought the crowd back into the match for the first time since the beginning. An ace from Mati Jennings evened the score at 14-all. Lainey Skeens then delivered a spike to keep it even at 18-all.

Abby Clark added back-to-back kills to help Gallia reach match point at 24-22 before Wheelersburg began to rally back. The Lady Pirates finally took the match when Alyssa Mullins made a kill for a thrilling 33-31 win. However, the Lady Pirates still trailed in the match 2-1.

Set Four

Showing no panic, the Blue Angels regained their focus and took back control of the match.

Both teams battled back and forth during the first half of the set before Gallia finally began to pull away with a pair of kills from Aspen Barnes and Clark.

Pugh delivered the final kill off a set from Gracyn Clark for the 3-1 match win.

Gallia Academy 25 25 31 25

Wheelersburg 12 18 33 19

Gallia Academy wins match 3-1

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GA Wh

Kills 72 45

Attempts 212 143

Assists 71 43

Aces 9 4

Blocks 7 8