Girls volleyball: Ottawa closes out 3-set victory over I-8 foe Sycamore at Kingman

OTTAWA — While grabbing and sustaining momentum is important, having confidence is just as important.

The Ottawa volleyball team began Thursday’s Interstate 8 Conference match with Sycamore playing well in every facet to win the opening set. But then the Pirates struggled to sustain that energy in the second set while the Spartans cleaned up their serve-receive and evened the match at a set apiece.

Then in the third and deciding set, Ottawa regained its spark and held off a late charge by the visitors to claim a 25-14, 15-25, 25-17 at Kingman Gym.

Ottawa — which improved to 10-17-1 overall and 5-7 in league play — was led by Olivia Evola (five kills, seven assists, five aces, two blocks), Alyssa Malmassari (four kills), Ryleigh Stevenson (four kills), Skylar Dorsey (seven assists) and Mel Pries (four aces, three blocks).

“We still have sets where, what I call it is getting wavy, here and there and the second set tonight was a good example of that,” Ottawa coach Jenn Crum said. “We were just racking up the hitting errors and getting frustrated while Sycamore started finding the open spots.

“In the first and third sets, we played with so much confidence and let bad points go right away. But for whatever reason, the second set we weren’t able to move on after a tough point or a mis-hit. We talked after the first set about not leaning off Sycamore, because they are a solid, talented team that has the ability to come back, and they showed that.

“We then got off to a good start in the third set, got back to playing with confidence and were able to keep a comfortable lead.”

Sycamore — which dropped to 13-18 and 5-7 — was paced by six kills each from Grace Lichthardt, Ava Carpenter (two aces) and Laci Neece, while Cecelia Jackson added three winning swings and Reese Morgan four aces.

“Our serve-receive was the difference tonight,” Sycamore coach Jennifer Charles said when asked about the biggest key in the match. “The first set we didn’t pass well at all, and because of that we didn’t get into any kind of offense. The second set was a complete opposite in that ... we passed well, which allowed us to consistently get into our offense, and we were digging up almost everything Ottawa sent over the net.

“Then early in the third set we struggled again to make an initial pass off serve, and Ottawa was able to extend the lead. Toward the middle of the set we were able to start serving and passing more aggressive. The key for us is when we pass the ball well, we are in good shape, but when we don’t, especially in long stretches like tonight, we struggle.

“I’m happy with how the girls fought, especially in the final set. We were down 12 points late and were able to cut it to six, but we just put ourselves in a bad situation with our slow start.”

In the opening set, the teams traded points until a five-point serving run by Stevenson, which included a pair of aces and a kill by Pries, pushed the hosts’ lead to 20-8. From there an ace by Pries and kills from Stevenson, Malmassari and Evola helped close out the set.

The second set saw Sycamore grab leads of 9-4, 15-8 and 20-12. A pair of kills from Neece and single salvos from Lichthardt and Carpenter helped send the match to a deciding set.

A three-point run by Evola to start, which included two aces, was followed later by a solid six-point burst by Pries, which was aided by a pair of aces, two kills by Malmassari and another from Evola, to give the Pirates a 12-3 advantage. The squads traded points until a five-point surge by Morgan — on three aces and a kill each from Lichthardt, Nece and Jaycie Funderburg — sliced the lead to 22-16.

However, a service error, a block by Pries and an ace by Malmassari closed out the set and match.

Ottawa is back in action Saturday at a tournament in Mendota, while Sycamore plays at Sandwich on Tuesday.