ATTICA — A couple of Crawford County volleyball heavyweights duked it out Monday night with more than bragging rights on the line.
Second-seeded Galion landed a few more shots in a 3-1 win over No. 3 Colonel Crawford in the Division III district semifinals at Seneca East High School.
After splitting the first two games, the Eagles (19-5) opened a 15-10 lead in the third on an ace by Emma Scott. The Tigers (21-2) responded with six consecutive points thanks to the serving of Madelyn Schieber to grab a 16-15 lead. From there, the game see-sawed until Galion’s Jordan Roderick came up with a kill down the line for a 28-26 win.
“Once we lost the second set, I got a little nervous,” Galion coach Kathleen Davis said. “The girls kind of got down on themselves a little bit.
“(Colonel Crawford) was probably the biggest blocking team besides Highland that we’ve seen and it really slowed us down on offense.”
The pivotal third game changed the complexion of the match, Colonel Crawford coach Taylor Heiby said.
“We were up and then we got down,” Heiby said. “Just the little errors killed us.
“I can’t be mad at my girls. My girls played so hard tonight.”
The dramatic third-game win provided a spark for the Tigers. Galion never trailed in the fourth, building an 11-3 lead en route to a 25-14 victory.
“After that second set I told the girls, ‘We can’t be afraid to be great,’ ” Davis said. “In that third set we came out swinging. It was awesome.”
The win sends the Tigers into Wednesday’s district championship match against top-seeded Huron. The Tigers dispatched No. 4 Willard 3-0 in Monday’s early match.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Davis said. “This is only my second year at Galion so I’m pretty excited for the district. I know the girls are, too.”
The loss brought an end to the high school careers of eight Colonel Crawford seniors.
“I just told them, ‘You cannot hang your heads,’ ” Heiby said. “This has been the best volleyball team that I have coached. I have a great group of seniors and they’re very special to me. They’ll definitely be missed.”
