Wallace hosted Paxton on Thursday night for a dual and it was a game of runs and the Tigers weathered several storms to earn the gritty 3-0 sweep over the Wildcats.
In set one, from first serve it was an even match. Paxton jumped out to the 4-1 lead but Wallace was able to climb back into the set to event it at 7-7. Paxton again took the lead again at 16-13 but Wallace wasn't going to go away that easy. The Tigers were forced to call a timeout after back-to-back aces and the score read 19-18. The two went on and Wallace put up a huge block to even things up 21-21. Wallace took the lead and forced Paxton to use another timeout and the Tigers responded to even it at 23-23. Paxton closed out the set 25-23 to take the 1-0 lead.
It was tight from the start in set two. Wallace and Paxton were tied at 2-2, 4-4, 9-9, and 12-12 before Wallace was able to create a small lead. Wallace was able get to a 21-16 lead but Paxton wasn't going to go away without a fight. They forced a Wildcat timeout with the score reading 22-20 and only trailing by two. Wallace created another lead with the score reading 24-21 and Paxton called a timeout to regroup. The Tigers battled back to win the set 26-24 and take the 2-0 lead.
Wallace jumped out in set three 5-2 before a service error occurred. Wallace extended their lead and forced a Tiger timeout at 9-4. The Wildcats won an extremely long rally to make the score 12-9. Wallace led 20-13 and forced Paxton to use another timeout. Paxton stayed calm, weathered the storm, and had a huge surge to force Wallace to use a timeout 22-18. Wallace responded out of the timeout but Paxton kept their foot on the gas from the service line and kept the Wildcats out of system. Paxton was able to come back and win set three 25-23 and the match, 3-0.
Wallace, Reagan Finley had eight kills, and Maddison Gartrell and Reagan Martin and had five kills. As a team, the Wildcats had nine aces, Mariana Aceves-Lopez had four aces and Devin Giesselmann had three aces. Mallory McConnell had five blocks for Wallace while Kaley Sauser had three blocks and 12 assists. Wallace picked up 77 digs in the match and were led by Finley with 18, Aceves-Lopez added 17, McConnell added 13, and Giesselmann had 11.
For Paxton, Sarah Brott had 12 kills, Jakcee Mitchell had 10 kills, and Jaleigh Hansen had 10 kills. Paxton had six aces as a team and Brott posted three aces and Mitchell added two. The Tigers had 113 digs in the match with J. Hansen having 22 digs, Mitchell added 21 digs, Reece Glinn had 19 digs, Madison Hansen had 18 digs, Emmalee Nicholson had 18 digs, and Hadleigh Kramer had 10 digs. M. Hansen added 35 assists in the match.
Emmalee Nicholson caught up with Evan after the match to talk about the win, check it out below.
Wallace falls to 8-9 and will be back in action on Tuesday when they host a triangular on Tuesday with Maywood-Hayes Center and Brady. Paxton improves to 9-10 and will be back in action on Tuesday as they host a triangular with Arthur County and Sandhills/Thedford.
Check out our highlights from the match brought to you by Prairie Girl Candle Company
