By HUNTER O. LYLE
ALLEGANY, NY – For the third time of the season, the Allegany-Limestone volleyball team found themselves with its back against the wall. After white-knuckling their way to two early come-from-behind set victories, the next two slipped through their grasp. Now, in the fifth and final, there was no room for mistakes.
However, as the young Gators squad once again wrestled with their identity crisis, one last comeback just wasn’t on the itinerary. Instead, A-L came up short once again, falling to Southwestern as they suffered their third consecutive loss.
“We are just struggling in a lot of areas. We’re struggling with passing and setting and hitting and our serving needs to be a little harder. I just think we’ve had a lot of struggles throughout the whole team and it’s hard for us to come together,” said Allegany-Limestone head coach Tara Battone. “That’s what we’re struggling with right now and we just need to keep trying.”
Midway through the season, the Gators have failed to find a reliable stride and at the core, the problem sits with youth and inexperience.
One year prior, A-L was in the midst of a fruitful 15-5 regular season campaign, one carried by a group of seniors that had been playing together for the entirety of their volleyball careers. Graduating nine of their eleven varsity roster spots, the Gators entered this season looking to the next girls in line, and while there are some serious prospects, the development and chemistry hasn’t hit the ground running.
“We lost five starters who had been playing with each other since they were 12 years old and they were just so consistent and knew each other well. We’re just trying different things to see what works because they all have different abilities and we’re trying to look at everybody and see what’s our strengths,” said Battone, whose team entered Monday’s matchup at 3-4. “I think they’re all on the same level. They’re all doing the good things the same, but they’re all doing the bad things the same too.”
The good and the bad both were on display early against the Trojans.
In both of the first sets, A-L let Southwestern throw the first punches, finding big runs in each. Although the Gators saw some brief glimpses throughout their slow starts, like a consistent net presence from Mya Haynes and solid work from the service line from Morgan Keith, they procrastinated on finding reliable production. Only when feeling the heat did the momentum truly change.
In the initial set, the spark came from down 19-11. Earning an opportunity with a Trojan miscue, A-L started their fight against the current with a slam from Summer Rhow before back-to-back aces from Keith. Seeing the ball start to fall their way, a 6-0 run knotted the game before the Gators rode out the set on a 14-4 run.
Losing their footing into the second, A-L fell victim to missed rotations, miscommunications and miscues that dug them a hole. Unable to capitalize on Trojan mistakes and string together a run, the Gators struggled to get their head above water. However, when push once again came to shove, they found relief in Hayes.
Locking down the net with a budding 12-block night, Hayes denied everything coming over the top while also sending several slams and tips back down the other way as A-L rallied from down 20-15 for a 25-23 set win.
Despite sitting one set away from a clean sheet victory, A-L still was on shaky footing, which the Trojans took advantage of.
Opening and closing with big runs, including holding the night’s largest lead at six, Southwestern swiftly put themselves on the scoreboard with a 25-17 win in the third, then clawing out a tightly contested equalizing fourth set victory at 25-21.
“We’d get one good pass but then we’d mess up the set. We’d get one good set and then we’d mess up the hit. Then we’d go to give the serve and we’d miss the next serve,” said Battone. “We’re not consistently making big things happen. Unfortunately, we’re consistently making mistakes.”
Needing to muster one last run, the Gators opened the fifth and final quickly, tacking on three unanswered points in the race to 15. However, from there, their flame died out. Putting their foot in the door before it closed, Southwestern rattled off one final death blow. A 6-0 run put them in the driver’s seat before they pulled away with a night-sealing 15-8 final victory.
Along with her 12 blocks, Hayes ended with seven kills while Rhow finished with 12 kills and 12 digs.
Halfway through the season, the Gators are still searching for answers. With their third loss in a row coming with frustration, their mindset going forward is to handle the big issues and trust that the smaller ones will handle themselves.
“We’re halfway through the season, now’s where we have to fix those mistakes,” said Battone. “Some of those mistakes are that the ball dropped and those are fixable, but then (at certain times) both of our setters set to people who weren’t there and those are things we have to start with and address. The big red flags.”
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