Volleyball: Woodland outlasts Putnam County in 3 sets to earn victory in TCC opener

GRANVILLE — The volleyball postseason is two months away, but both Woodland and Putnam County played like it was already here during Thursday’s Tri-County Conference opener at R.M. Germano Gymnasium.

The Warriors jumped out quickly in the opening two sets, winning the first 25-14, but then watched as the Panthers clawed back from deficits of 7-0, 15-6 and 23-21 in the second to eventually win 25-23. The third was a back-and-forth battle in which each squad looked on the verge of victory, but in the end the visitors found a way to score the final two points of a 28-26 triumph to earn the win.

Woodland improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in league play, while Putnam County fell to 0-3 and 0-1.

“We had three really big matches to start off our season with Streator, Flanagan-Cornell and now here tonight,” Woodland coach Michelle Pitte said. “This was a really good back-and-forth match. Putnam County is a phenomenal team. ... They are beasts and they really played us tough from start to finish.

“The last set I screwed up the (starting) rotation, so that’s on me, but the girls did a great job of adjusting and running with it.

“We had some big shoes to fill coming into the season and we are slowly starting to do that.”

The final set was tied eight times, including at 24-all. A kill from PC’s Avery Moutray gave the hosts the upper hand, but a Panthers’ hitting error followed. Woodland then had match point after a kill by Emma Highland, but a tip kill by PC’s Tori Balma kept things going. However, from there, a Panthers’ lift violation preceded a right-side winning swing from Woodland’s Cloee Johnston to end the thrilling contest.

“This group has a whole lot of fight in them,” Putnam County coach Amy Bell said of her team. “They are not going to give up easily, they are very persistent, and they really showed that tonight. It’s taking them a little while to get started in sets, but once they do get in a groove, they have a lot of fun and things start going our way.”

“I feel like tonight at the end we just ran out of gas and were maybe playing a little bit too safe. Props to Woodland, they took advantage of all of our errors in the first set and a half and found a way to get the last couple points in the third.”

Woodland jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first set, and when Putnam County closed to within 16-12, used a five-point run by Highland — with back-to-back kills by Johnston the highlight — to help close it out. In the second set, the Panther’s used a five-point burst from Balma, and three final points from Ava Hatton — including her own kill and one on set-point from Maggie Spratt — to send the match to a third set.

Woodland, which had 15 hitting errors and five serving errors, was led by Johnston (nine kills, two blocks, eight points), Highland (five kills, 10 points) and Shae Simons (20 assists, three aces and 16 points).

“I thought we communicated well tonight, and that’s our thing, but especially in those last few points,” Simons said. “We did a good job of not getting too high or too low, and that’s what you need to do in close games. Coach just kept reminding us to part smart and have fun. I think we did both.”

Putnam County, which was guilty of 13 hitting and 16 serving miscues, was paced by Balma (seven kills, 16 assists, four digs, six points), Hatton (10 kills, five digs, eight points) and four kills each by Moutray (four aces, 10 points) and Maggie Richetta.

Next up for each club: Woodland is at the Pontiac Invitational and Putnam County at the Somonauk Tournament on Saturday.