The Bearcats get a gritty win against the Spartans

SPENCERVILLE-The Spencerville Bearcats looked to get over .500 for the first time in the early season when they faced the Lima Senior Spartans. Spencerville was able to pick up the victory in four sets.

“It was amazing to watch them play on the front row and my back row just covered them with all of those tips and blocks,” said Spencerville head coach Keeley Layman. 

The opening set belonged to the hosts. Spencerville went on a 10-0 scoring run that propelled Lima Senior to take a timeout. The Bearcats didn’t look back as they picked up the set victory at 25-11.

Lima Senior found their response in the second set. Both teams played even till the visitors went on a 9-3 scoring run that went from 12-9 to 21-20 before winning the set 25-14.

The third set was the Bearcats turn to overcome some adversity. Spencerville never led the set by more than four points but turned a 20-16 deficit to tie it at 20 that included an ace by Analese Hannah.Both teams traded a pair of kills that left the game tied at 24. An ace by Allison Post gave the hosts a 25-24 before a side out ended the set to give them a two games to one advantage.

“In the second set their heads were down so I told them just go out and play like we did the first one and have fun and they did and worked together,” added Layman.

Spencerville carried that momentum into the fourth set as a pair of Bearcat kills and an ace from Kaitlyn Keller grew the lead to 3-0 before the visitors rallied to even it up. An attack by Hannah regained the Bearcat lead before the Spartans gained their first lead of the night at 9-8. 

Keller was able to steer the Bearcat in the right direction with a kill to grow their lead to 16-13 before she delivered the final punch. A kill by Keller gave them their biggest lead of the set at 24-20 before a side out gave them the match victory.

“She had a straight face and kept her composure and knocked it out for us,” commented Layman on Keller.

Spencerville improves to 2-1 on the season and will host Ridgemont on Tuesday.

Lima Senior 11 25 24 20

Spencerville 25 14 26 25