By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – In the second meeting with the Lady Terrors, things were going much differently for Port Allegany.
Sweeping Otto-Eldred just two weeks prior, the Lady Gators were now facing a mounting wave, falling behind 2-1 in the early sets and seeing, as well as hearing, the momentum be turned against them. Yet, head coach Matt Burr knew his crew was unfazed.
“I was pretty confident our girls could come back from 2-1. They just had to be in the right mindset,” said Burr. “Were we a little worried? A little. With this group of girls, we’re never worried too much.”
Although it would be a tooth-and-nail battle of incremental gains, the Lady Gators rode their confidence throughout the fourth and then tie-breaking fifth sets, achieving the sweep of O-E and staking their claim on the North Tier League as champions.
Flash back five sets and the Lady Terrors also entered Tuesday’s competition with confidence. After cleaning up shop in the weekend’s Kane tournament, as well as tallying four sweeps since their last meeting with Port, O-E felt ready for another shot at the top team in the league, the only ones who had blemished their NTL record.
“Really, we’ve just been working on not watching the ball hit the floor and focusing on our side and not so much what they’re going to do,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Amber App. “Before we all worried about where (Port) was going to hit, we worried more about what we were going to do when the ball hits here or here. Who’s getting it? We worked on our side instead of theirs.”
In the early goings, their focus and development was on display. Led by the powerful net presence of Rayel Hakes, the Lady Terrors opened the first set with four unanswered points. However, Port answered with their own thunderous slams and spikes sent over the net by Jenna Renner. Combined with a fluid floor offense and an ace from Lily Lehmier, the Lady Gators stormed back in front with a 7-1 surge, taking a 11-9 lead.
That’s when O-E’s heart showed. Emptying their tanks with constant hustle that included dives for digs, relentless effort and well executed passing, the Lady Terrors took back the lead at 18-15, recording their own 7-1 run that included six straight points. Fending off their narrow cushion on the scoreboard, they rode that lead to the end, coming away with a 25-22 win in the first set of the evening.
Moving forward, the constant battle that had ended the first carried over into the second. Separation on the scoreboard was scarce as neither team took more than a two-point advantage. However, holding a 11-10 lead, the Lady Gators began to pick up steam. Feeding Renner with crisp passes while outlasting O-E in continuous long sets, Port slowly pulled away, turning a 15-11 mark to 19-13. Closing out with five unanswered points, they evened the night with a 25-16 win.
The Lady Terrors returned the favor in the third. After another deadlocked battle of inches, the Lady Gators broke loose with a 5-0 run, putting them atop a 17-12 lead. But O-E stayed resilient. Leaning on Hakes’ power alongside net defender Emma Button and the full batteries of Remy McDivitt and Baylee Francis, the Lady Terrors snapped back, scoring six straight to take their first lead since 7-6.
At 18-17, those six points snowballed to eight unanswered, ultimately building a 12-3 run that put them ahead once again on the set score as they finished 25-20.
“I was seeing (my team) all in sync,” said App.
Unlike the previous sets, the fourth saw both teams rattle off breakout streaks. Port initially took the reins at 6-0, before seeing O-E retaliate with seven uninterrupted points of their own. Both wrestling for the necessary two-point buffer as play continued, an ace from Hakes would give the Lady Terrors some life at 19-17. Yet with the game on the line, Port rose to the occasion.
Breaking through the Lady Terrors’ front line and recording a handful of aces themselves, the Lady Gators took back the momentum with a 7-2 that was punctuated with a Renner ace, giving them a 25-20 victory that sent the night into a fifth and final set.
Although O-E came out of the intermission hot, building a 5-2 lead sooner rather than later, Port was impeccable. Slowly but surely, they began chipping away at the deficit before knotting the scoreboard at 11-11 with an ace from Lehmier. Taking their first lead of the set at 13-12, the Lady Gators didn’t look back, closing the night with a big win and rowdy celebration from their home fans at 15-13.
Moments later, they were hoisting an NTL Championship banner.
“It feels good. Our girls put in a heck of a game tonight. Both teams did,” said Burr, whose team is 14-0 in the league and 16-0 overall. “They both played well but our girls didn’t have any quit in them tonight.”
Renner finished with a team-high 24 kills, also tallying 15 digs, 13 service points and an ace. Peyton Gordan and Gianna Glasgow each had three aces throughout the win, combining for 31 service points and nine kills. Isla Lehmier ran the offense with 39 assists, coming away with four kills and four aces alongside Lily Lehmier’s 16 kills, 14 digs and two aces.
With just four games left between the two teams, all which at least appear to be more than winnable, the Lady Terrors and Gators ultimately look towards the District 9 Class A postseason. Despite being unable to put a dent in Port’s armor, App knows the battle and lessons that came with the loss will plant seeds for the playoffs.
“We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing. We did a lot of learning this past week and even in this game,” said App, “yeah, we didn’t win it but we learned a lot and it’s going to help us in the playoffs for sure. That’s what I told them, we might not have won but all in all, does it really matter right now? If it helps us in the playoffs and it helps us win in playoffs, then really we did win from this.”
