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Ansonia
senior Hannah Barga goes head to head with Bradford senior
Brooke Brower Tuesday at Bradford. The
Lady Railroaders won 3-2 in come
from behind fashion. CNO Photo by Don Sealanders, goroaders.com
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Lady Roaders
put on late surge to beat Ansonia
Big win on special night for Bradford
By George Starks
BRADFORD- When it comes to honoring one of its own, Bradford has
usually rose to the occasion.
Tuesday was a classic example as the Lady Railroaders played host to
Ansonia in a Cross County Conference battle.
It was also pink night in Bradford, a night for raising funds to help
fight cancer.
On this night, it was long time coach and teacher, Gregg Hale that was
in the spotlight and the home team came through for Hale and volleyball
coach Jamie Hocker.
After dropping the opening two sets to Ansonia, 25-17 and 25-23, it was
Bradford that came out on top, winning the final three sets, 25-11,
25-20 and 15-13.
The turning point for the Roaders came in the second set loss.
Trailing big early in the set (13-4), Bradford started to chip away,
closing to within a 24-23 count off some strong serving by sophomore
Mandi Bates before the Tigers were able to break serve and get the win.
“It was a big win on a special night,” said Hocker. “You could see the
momentum swinging in our favor in the second game of the match. The
kids decided they were going to do this and do it for Hale. He’s been a
big supporter of these kids and they pushed it for Hale.”
Down 2-0 going into the third set, Bradford came out with all guns
blazing.
Jumping out to a commanding 7-1 lead in the third, Bradford never
trailed and kept the heat on throughout the set.
With games four and five being tight knit, it was Bradford that would
never let up.
With only two wins on the season, Hocker was beaming after the victory.
“Two years ago we had the exact same thing when we played Ansonia and
we went five games and they beat us,” said Hocker. “On that night,
Sarah Hackett was the one being honored and she eventually passed away.
That night, we failed. Tonight, we decided we were going to push and
take it all the way and we’re not stopping until we do.”
Having the home court advantage played big in the eyes of Hocker.
“It’s nice to have the crowd behind you,” said Hocker. “When the boys
get in there and the crowd is cheering for you, it really get the
momentum turned around and having that backing is huge for us. This
night was all about Greg Hale and I’m so glad we could come through for
him.”
It was a very frustrating loss for Ansonia.
“Even though they lost that second set, they might as well have won
it,” said Ansonia coach Jason Hemmelgarn. “It’s very frustrating. We
made a lot of mistakes, especially in game five. We didn’t play good
defense especially in the back row and I’ll take the blame for that
one. I have to get them more focused in practice and be more consistent
in the way we play. We have a tendency to start scoreboard watching and
waiting for the other team to lose. We need to finish with kills
instead of waiting for them to make mistakes. We have to learn to put
teams away. We let them hang around and we lost it.”
(Writers note: Greg Hale suffers from Kidney Cancer and Bradford raised
over 800 dollars for the fight against cancer. Watch CNO for a special
interview with Coach Hale.)
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