Lady Gladiators stun the Frost Lady Polar Bears for a 5th set win
JV Lady Gladiators Halee Turner(3), Jozie Perkins(5) and Ashlyn Jacinto(6) are all smiles during Tuesday’s volleyball games inside Italy Coliseum. (Barry Byers)
Italy — The Lady Gladiators played three close sets in their previous meeting against Kopperl but just couldn’t win a set despite their best efforts. The Frost Lady Polar Bears, on the other hand, upset Kopperl and were feeling pretty good about themselves when they arrived in Italy this past Tuesday to challenge the Lady Gladiators, coached by first year coach Jessica Robinson. After all, Kopperl had defeated Italy, Frost defeated Kopperl and, therefore, a Frost win over the Lady Gladiators would be a gimme, right?
Wrong! The Lady Gladiators have been staying the course while trying to find a rhythm within a new system. They’ve competed well this season but have had difficulty finishing sets, often losing a lead. That all changed under the dome on Tuesday as the Lady Gladiators, with ice in their veins, shocked the district by giving the Lady Polar Bears a cold shoulder and a 3-2 loss.
Carrying momentum from their win over Kopperl, Frost entered Italy Coliseum ready to play and jumped out to an 11-2 lead over the Lady Gladiators. Italy’s Jaclynn Lewis scored thru a double block attempt by Frost to make the score 11-3 sparking the home team. Italy stormed back to tie the set 14-14 but Frost kept their edge to win 25-21.
Ahead 1-0, Frost scored first to lead early in the second-set 1-0. However, the tide suddenly turned against Frost as the Lady Gladiators began racking up the points. Italy led 6-1 and then 9-2 and then just kept scoring. With the score 13-7, a long back-and-forth volley ended with Paola Mata scoring with a crowd pleasing tap over the net to distance Italy, 14-7. Timeout Frost, their second timeout of the set.
A few points later, a hustle play by Mata to keep the ball in the air results in another Lady Gladiator point who lead 18-7. With the score 18-9, Madison Washington smashes the ball over for an authoritative point to give Italy a 19-9 lead. Frost remains stuck on 9 while the Lady Gladiators keep piling up points. A blast at the net by Alyssa Richards makes the score 23-9, Monserrat Figueroa wins the battle at the net to make the score 24-19 and then Richards gets the winning point from the serving line to help Italy tie the matchup 1-1.
Frost jumps out to a 4-0 advantage to start the third-set. With Washington serving, Italy cuts the deficit in half, 6-3, and then manages to stay close behind Lady Bears, 8-4 then 9-6 then 18-17 to force another timeout call from Frost. Out of the break, Frost scores the first 2-points but Italy answers to score the following 2-points and the Lady Bears’ coaching staff calls anther timeout with the score 20-19.
After that, the Lady Gladiators played good volleyball to tie the set 22-22 and then 23-23. Italy takes their first lead, 24-23, after trailing the entire set. Washington executes a block at the net to give Italy the advantage in the match, 2-1, and Italy fans are loving it!
To start the fourth-set, Frost score first but Italy sets the pace as Kortnei Johnson leaps high to score over the net and give Italy a 5-3 edge. Mata sets up Johnson again for the next point, 6-3. Johnson continues to work at the net and Italy goes up 7-3. Again, a hustling Mata keeps the ball active and Johnson exploits an opening between Frost defenders to make the score 8-5. Lewis serves and Italy gets another point, 9-5. Moments later, a Washington spike gives Italy an 11-8 lead and then Washington slices a shot past Lady Bear paws to put Italy up 13-9. However, Frost battles back to tie the set 13-13 before taking the lead at 14-13.
Italy responded and tied the set 15-15 and then again at 16-16. An extended volley ends in favor of Italy as Johnson scores the point to put Italy back on top, 17-16. Frost quickly ties the set backup at 17-17 and then holds Italy to just 1-point more while the Lady Bears finish strong to win 25-18, tying the match 2-2 as well as force a fifth-set tie-breaker.
During the tie-breaker, Frost scored first and then built a 5-2 lead. The Lady Gladiators battled back to make the score 10-7, then 13-10 and then 13-12 with Frost still up by 1-point. With neither side wanting to make a mistake, another long and cautious volley ends with Johnson slamming down the tying point for Italy, 13-13. Italy scores again to lead 14-13 but Frost finds a way to tie the fifth and deciding set at 14-all.
The first team to sixteen wins the tie-breaker and the matchup as long as they win by 2-points. With the tension so thick you could slice through it with a Lady Gladiator sword, Mata sets up Johnson at the middle of the net and Johnson delivers with a powerful smash that beats the Lady Bears to the floor before they can get the dig. Leading 15-14, Mata sets up Johnson again in an effort to duplicate the previous play. Johnson holds nothing back and rises to unleash an nonreturnable ball while simultaneously knocking the Lady Bears from their pedestal, 16-14 (3-2).
The Italy Lady Gladiators followed up their emotional win over Frost with another win over Covington in 4 sets this past Saturday in Covington.
Going into yesterday’s game against Bynum, the Lady Gladiators had a 4-3 district record. In their previous matchup on September 8, Italy defeated Bynum in their first district game of the season. During yesterday’s matchup the Lady Gladiators lost in 4 sets.
Italy’s JV Girls versus Frost:
A spike by Ashlyn Jacinto gave Italy a 24-19 advantage over the JV Lady Polar Bears who returned the next Italy serve into the net to end the first set 25-19 with Italy getting the win.
Frost got hot in the second set to hand Italy its first set loss in district competition, 25-16, forcing a third and final set to decide the winner.
The JV Lady Polar Bears built an 8-2 cushion to start the tie-breaker and were determined to keep the pace. Down 23-14, Italy made a run and with Taylor Turner serving. Italy closed the gap 23-18 before Frost earned a point to go up 24-18. A Turner dig made the score 24-19 but Frost would score the next point to win 25-19 and hand Italy’s JV girls their second set loss of district. Italy’s JV squad had won 11 straight sets before Frost ended the streak and are now 5-1 in district.
The JV squad improved their winning record yesterday, beating Bynum in two sets.