SPARTA — Highland volleyball coach Rob Terrill found out a little about his young team Monday.
The Scots, who start two freshmen and three sophomores, found themselves in a battle with visiting Fredericktown, but were able to pull out a 25-17, 25-21, 26-24 victory.
“We’re young, and with that, there’ll be some up and downs. When we pull together, we can be very good. We’ve got to keep playing and persevere,” Terrill said.
The Scots (1-1) looked good early, but needed some big runs in the second and third games to gain the victory. A 7-1 run in the second game enabled them to take control, then the Scots needed six straight in the final game to win.
“Fredericktown did a nice job picking up the defense. Kam Terry is our big hitter and they did a good job shutting her down. It was hard to get anything down tonight,” Terrill said.
Terry led the Scots with 16 kills as well as 22 digs.
The Freddies (0-1) looked like they were going to force a fourth game early in the third, jumping out to a 9-3 lead. But, Highland used a 5-0 run to close the gap, then scored the final six points to pull out the win.
“This is our first game of the season, so we had some jitters to start out,” said Fredericktown coach Dawn Toombs. “It definitely showed us the areas we need to work on. I thought we improved throughout the night tonight.
“I think our defense definitely improved. We were communicating and playing together.”
Brogin Denman added seven kills for Highland. Macy Winklefoos had six kills and three aces, while Alyssa Brown tallied four kills. Marlese Ferguson had 12 digs.
The Freddies were led by Lydia Webster, who had nine digs, six kills, five blocks and four points. Katie Ruhl had 14 assists, nine digs, six points and two aces, while Emily Williams had 11 digs, nine points, five kills and two aces. Sydney Hathaway added 12 digs, two assists and a block; Cassie Simpson had five kills and two digs; and Courtney Jackson had three kills and two digs.
Highland also won the junior varsity match, 25-12, 16-25, 25-10.
Adri Long scored six points to lead the Freddies. Nicole Wilson and Emily Yarman added five points each.
The Scots made it a clean sweep on the night with a 25-13, 25-15 victory in the freshman contest.
Sidney Lester led the Freddies with four points. Brooke Hurlbut added two.
Fredericktown will be back in action today, hosting Centerburg in a key Mid-Buckeye Conference tilt. Highland doesn’t play again until next Tuesday, hosting Cardington in its Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference opener.
