These rival volleyball teams tend to stand toe-to-toe with each other knowing what is on the line, so it’s never a surprise when these battles go five games.
Tied at 12 in that fifth and decisive game, the host Campbell County Camels (12-11) scratched out the game’s last three points to take control of the 37th District seed standings with a 3-2 (9-25, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12) win over the Scott Eagles (15-13) on Wednesday in the Pink Out game.
The victory gives the Camels a clear path to the No. 1 seed in the 37th District Tournament, sitting at 2-0 in seed play with a date with Bishop Brossart still to come on Oct. 5.
“I loved how we were all part of the community here. We had a big fundraiser for something important then once we stepped onto the court, it was just game time,” said Mikah Freppon, Campbell County head coach. “We really just stuck down to what we were doing. We just kept cool, calm and collected even though what was going on around us was amazing.”
Campbell County’s size ultimately won out with their two senior 6-foot middle blockers Lexi Scharold and Emma Manser. Manser had 14 kills and five solo blocks to go with two aces and Scharold had 13 kills and four solo blocks.
The Camels had 35 kills and 13 blocks to go with 28 assists and five aces. Hope Hamilton led Campbell County with 23 assists as the Camels had a lot of success with quick sets to Manser and Scharold. Senior setter Ava Crowl also had some key assists and Faith Whitford recorded some big kills in the decisive fifth game.
“We’ve really been focusing on connecting with our middles and that played a big part,” Hamilton said. “We really worked together.”
Scott did get Campbell County out of sync in the first game, recording four aces. But Campbell County put a lot of balls down with good first passes after that game, recording 60 digs. Ella Thorwarth continued to lead the Camels with 20 digs and two aces with A lon McIntyre tallying 15 digs.
“Every time we come into a huddle if we lose a couple points, we all tell each other we need to reset and just focus on putting the ball in the (opposing) court whether it’s a tip, a roll or anything,” Thorwarth said. “It’s about keeping calm from the first pass to the set to the hit. We all have to work as one team together.”
Scott’s two main power hitters Brooklyn Helm and Milyn Minor along with senior Brooke Balsley tried to hit the ball all over the place trying to keep the ball away from Manser and Scharold. Helm had 15 kills and Balsley had 14 with Minor recording 13 kills and three blocks.
“Milyn and Brooklyn had great games. But we have to get our other offensive players going,” said Andrea Sullivan, Scott head coach. “We have to have other offensive threats on the court, mixing up shots, making them have to make adjustments on defense. We’re not a very big team, so we just have to be crafty with what we do.”
Scott had 10 aces, 53 kills, 45 assists, nine blocks and 43 digs. Setter Ryann Grigsby had 41 assists with Morgan Justice recording six kills and four blocks. Payton Grigsby led the Eagles with nine digs with Elise Manhardt and Minor digging up eight balls each.
The second game started with Campbell County going up 4-1 as Manser blocked two balls and had a kill. But Scott came back to tie it at 16 on Balsley and Justice kills. Tied at 19, Crowl landed a block to give the Camels the lead for good. Scharold then landed two kills and Manser another before Thorwarth had an ace and Scott hit one long to end the game.
Campbell County started off the third game with Scharold landing three straight kills to go up 7-2. Manser had some tip kills to keep the Camels in front before Minor hit one off Campbell County blocks and out of bounds to tie the game at 15.
Scharold had a few more kills to put Campbell County up 23-19. Scott made things interesting cutting the lead to one twice, including a 24-23 margin after a Ryann Grigsby kill. But Scharold landed one on the left line to give the Camels that third game.
“(Scott’s) defense is very smart and they do pick up a lot of shots and their outsides are very strong,” Scharold said. “You just need to know what’s open and where you can put the ball down at most times.”
The fourth game started tight before Payton Grigsby landed an ace to put Scott up 11-6 forcing the Camels to call timeout. Sydney Lyons had an ace to trim the Eagle lead to 12-11. But leading 21-20, Scott finished the game with four straight on two Minor kills and two Camel errors.
“I loved our fight and tenacity. We did a lot of great things,” Sullivan said. “We never gave up. We kept battling. We tried aggressive serving and other things to try to get them out of system as much as we could.”
Both teams had two-point leads in the final game before Campbell County’s final run. Minor tied the game twice with kills and Manser landed a kill and block to put the Camels up 12-11 before ending the game with an ace.
“I loved the energy we had,” Freppon said. “We just kept our heads above water and kept pushing. That’s the biggest thing I love about these girls is they don’t give up.”
Scott concludes district play at home against Calvary Christian (15-8) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Campbell County does not play again until Tuesday against Pendleton County (13-11) at home at 7:30 p.m. If both win their final district games, Campbell would be locked into the No. 1 seed, Scott the No. 2 seed.