Willard tops Galion, returns to regionals

ATTICA — The call wasn't necessarily Kelsey Lykins' favorite. "But you can't help it, those things happen," said Lykins, the star senior hitter for the Willard volleyball team. "Not everything is always going to go your way. I had to refocus to help my teammates." Facing Galion in a Division V district championship match, Lykins had just given her team a 14-9 lead in the third set with Willard leading the match 2-0. But the next point saw a call get overturned, and the Tigers got the momentum to force a fourth set in Thursday's match at Seneca East High School. After going five sets in a win over Galion on Sept. 9, the Crimson Flashes didn't allow it to happen again. Willard took control late in the fourth set to eventually win the set and the match, 25-14, 25-23, 20-25 and 25-19. The Crimson Flashes (21-4) — ranked No. 10 in the final state coaches poll — will await the winner of Saturday's 4 p.m. district title match between Richwood North Union (15-9) and London Madison Plains (20-3) in Granville. The regional semifinal is set for 6 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 31) at the Elida Fieldhouse. It marks the first district title for Willard since 2018. "After we got down in the third set, you could look at the girls on the bench and see no panic," Willard head coach Ashley Bond said. "It wasn't like, 'Oh, I hope we bounce back and do good.' They knew it. "They knew they had it, and I think that goes back to the experience we put on the court … I don't say much. People often ask me what I say, and it's not a lot. They know what they are doing." A tipped ball that found the floor from Lykins and a block at the net by setter Caitlyn Weaver tied the fourth set at 13-13 for the Flashes. Lykins put down consecutive kills to give Willard the lead. Natalie Slone perfectly lobbed a ball from the far left to the far right side of the floor to give the Flashes a 19-16 lead. Ahead 20-18, Slone pulled the same tip, and Leah Weiss followed with a kill to make it 22-18 and Willard was on the doorstep. Lykins finished the deal. She added two more kills to make it 24-19, and classmate Morgan Lofland had another strong match at the service line and delivered the match-clinching ace. At the net, Lykins had her usual 15 kills, but Camryn Wiers had 12, followed by Teagan Schaffer with seven; Slone with six; and Weiss with five. "That's what makes our team so special, because you can't focus on Kelsey," Bond said. "Teagan did an amazing job blocking, and she has all year. Teagan does whatever you ask of her. Same for Natalie, and right down the line. "Not one of them complains about anything, they all just go up there and do what we ask around them." Willard controlled the first set from the start. After some back-and-forth, Slone put Willard ahead 11-8 with a kill, then an out of bounds hit by the Tigers and consecutive kills from Lykins and Wiers extended the lead to 14-8. The Flashes were up 17-11 when the Tigers served a ball out of bounds, then hit one out as well to extend the lead to 19-11. An ace by Wiers made it 21-11 before the Tigers reeled off three straight points to stay within striking distance at 21-14. However, Willard then closed the door with four straight points of its own. Schaffer tipped a ball over and followed with a kill to make it 23-14. A kill by Slone and an out of bounds block attempt on the Tigers sealed the 25-14 win. The second set became a battle to 10 points after both teams were tied at 15. An out of bounds block on the Tigers followed by an error at the net gave the Flashes a 17-15 lead. Wiers put down a kill at the middle of the net after a Galion point to keep it at 18-16, then a hit by Galion on a block attempt of Weiss sailed to the back of the line — just out of bounds — to extend the lead to 19-16. Then came an incredible point where each team volleyed back and forth six times each. Schaffer made an improbable save at the front of the net, and eventually Weiss put down the kill to make it 20-16. The Tigers didn't go quietly, however. A pair of kills and an out of bounds hit suddenly had Galion within 21-20, and after Slone and Galion's Madelyn Schieber traded kills, it was still a 22-21 lead. But with Willard leading 23-22, Galion had a net violation, but got a kill back to make it 24-23. The Flashes then finished off the set when a strong kill attempt by Schieber landed out of bounds for the 25-23 win. Looking to avoid a sweep, the Tigers then put together an impressive run in the third set. A kill by Lykins put Willard up 14-9. It appeared Lykins had successfully blocked a ball to make it 15-9, but the call was overturned by the side official. And the Tigers never looked back. Galion reeled off 10 straight points to open up a 19-14 lead before Wiers ended the run with a kill. Willard got no closer than four points the rest of the way in the 25-20 loss. "We were hitting shots and they were hitting out of bounds — that makes a big difference obviously," Bond said. "When they started their run in the third set, they got their hitting going. It was more what they did than what we weren't doing. "But we served strong and kept them out of system enough in the first two sets for us to be successful." Lofland was 24 for 25 serving with two aces and 12 digs. Weaver was 14 for 15 serving with an ace and had 39 assists and nine digs. Weiss also had 13 digs and was 12 for 14 serving with an ace. Last season, the Flashes were eliminated by the Tigers in four sets in a district semifinal — on the same floor as Thursday's win. "We definitely wanted to beat them after last year, but I think the third set when they got the momentum from us, we lost a little confidence," Weaver said. "Maybe we were overconfident, but in the fourth set we basically decided let's play fun, let's play hard and get after it more."