AT THE GOAL — Harrison Central’s Lauren Doane tries to hit the ball past Big Red’s Analesa Perdue during Friday’s game. – Mike Hughes
CADIZ – Harrison took advantage of its veteran roster and hard-fought hitters to take a 25-14 lead after the first set in its season-opening match against Big Red on Friday night.
But somewhere in the middle of the second set, the Huskies lost their orientation and especially their intensity.
Serves were not received properly, attacks could not be prepared from advantageous positions and unforced errors increased.
The result? Big Red won the second set 25:10 and the guests seemed to use the momentum.
New head coach Grace Godich recognized this exact problem during the preseason and impressed upon her girls the importance of keeping the intensity at a consistent level, and her team responded.
Harrison reduced the errors, played strongly and started to implement successful attacks, so that the home team gave Godich a valuable victory of 25-14, 10-25, 25-23 and 25-18.
“I tell the girls to keep the intensity high, and in the second set it was not the first time that we let up like that,” Godich admitted: “We left a lot to be desired in our practice games, but we kept bringing the intensity back, and they did.”
“We made some unforced errors, but they came back and picked themselves up and I’m proud of them.
Lauren Doane, who led the early charge for Harrison, helped the Huskies fight back with some impressive kills. The 5-foot-10 senior finished the game with 14 kills and when she was properly positioned, there was little Big Red could do as Doane’s strong right arm swung down with emphasis.
She was not alone.
AnnMarie Corder and Maddy Zeroski each had eight kills, while Kennedy Dunlap wasn’t far behind with seven. They were well supported by the Gradys, junior Hannah and sophomore Leah, who assisted on 17 and 10 successful attacks, respectively.
“We have some really good players,” Godich said: “Our setters are great, our hitters are great, but we lost momentum for a while. That was our problem, but we got it back.”
Big Red, on the other hand, overcame a somewhat slow start and was able to develop better attacking opportunities in the second set.
Junior Giuilana Cramer had nine kills, while seniors Analesa Perdue and Sena Smith each scored seven times. Perdue in particular was able to repeatedly hit cross-court shots with an impressive left-handed attack that Harrison had a hard time defending.
In the third set, the two teams played an even game. The score was 23:23 before a block attempt sailed out of bounds and Harrison earned his 24th point. Then an attack error gave him the game point at 25:23.
Big Red started the fourth set strongly, taking a 5-0 lead, but Harrison fought back, taking an 11-10 lead led by Doane and Dunlap and never relinquishing it.
Doane capped off his impressive senior debut with a match point, fending off Perdue’s block and smashing the winning shot into the net.
“We just didn’t manage to get started, and when we did, it was too late,” noted Steubenville head coach Logan Colabella.
Big Red will look to get back on track on Monday when they head to Carrollton.
Harrison, meanwhile, will look to make it 2-0 on Monday when it hosts Buckeye Local in the Panthers’ season opener.
Harrison Central defeated Big Red 25-14, 10-25, 25-23, 25-18
H – Doane 14 kills; Corder 8 kills; Zeroski 8 kills; Dunlap 7 kills; Tonkovich 5 kills; H Grady 17 assists; L Grady 10 assists; Pelegreen 3 assists.
B – Smith 7 kills, 3 blocks, 5 points; Cramer 9 kills, Perdue 7 kills; Lyon’s 9 kills; 3 blocks; Bigsby 2 kills; Biasi 11 Digs.
