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Bradford outside hitter, Olivia Hart, gets one past the outstretched
arms of Mississinawa Valley's Madison
Stachler Thursday at Mississinawa
Valley. It was breast cancer awareness night and the Hawks pulled out a
3-2
victory in Cross County Conference action over the Railoaders. CNO
photo by George Starks
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Lady Hawks
prevail on pink night
MV takes Bradford in five
By George Starks
UNION CITY- Pink night at Mississinawa Valley had Bradford seeing red
in the end.
Trailing 2-0, Mississinawa Valley bounced back to win three straight
sets, sending the Lady Railroaders home scratching their heads.
After losing the opening sets, 18-25 and 29-31, the Hawks found new
life, winning the last three 25-19, 25-10 and 15-7.
With the light switch on and their backs against the wall, Hawks coach
Billie Hunt summed the win up in very few words.
“After losing that second set, I think the girls relaxed a little and
started to have a little fun,” said Hunt. “I think they came out a
little cold and stiff and they weren’t really enjoying the game. They
decided they were going to come out, play the game and have some fun.
That’s when they play their best games. When they’re having fun.”
Right from the opening volley, Bradford was in control in the opening
set as the Hawks struggled in all aspects of the game.
Bradford outplayed MV at the net and kept the Hawks on their heels from
start to finish, building as much as a 20-14 lead before posting the
25-18 victory.
In the second set, the theme was not quite the same as the two teams
went back and forth the entire set.
In a nip and tuck battle that saw numerous ties and lead changes,
neither team would be able to establish control as a 31-29 Bradford
victory would eventually indicate.
What happened at that point, no one could have predicted.
Despite losing the marathon second set, the Hawks gained some much
needed momentum.
Holding a 9-5 lead in the third, MV went on a tear, taking a commanding
21-11 advantage before winning by six, 25-19.
With the fourth a fifth sets following suite, it was the play of
seniors Kasey Hummel and Leslie Dirksen that seemed to spark the Hawks
fire.
“They came alive late. Leslie had a lot of good saves and Kasey was
hitting well,” said Hunt. “It seemed the girls just all came together
and they were celebrating with each other. They were celebrating each
other’s victories and supporting each other and that’s what I want to
see them doing.”
With the CCC victory safely tucked away, the color of the night was
pink and winning on this night made it extra special according to Hunt.
“I think everybody has known someone that has been affected by breast
cancer,” Hunt pointed out. “We’ve had a couple off teachers in our own
system affected by this. I think it’s a great cause and it was well
supported here. It makes it so much better when you win. When you put a
lot of time and effort into it. I think this was the biggest crowd
we’ve had at a game so it was well supported by the community.”
While the Hawks gained momentum and stayed focus, it was just the
opposite for the Roaders and their coach, Maddie Armstrong.
“I think we just lost momentum after winning the first two sets,” said
Armstrong. “We had some bad points and we never really recovered from
it. One of our weaknesses is not being able to recover from it. I don’t
think we lost our energy though. We are very well conditioned and we’ve
gone to five games a lot. So we’re used to it.”
Up 2-0, Armstrong pointed out one very big detail.
“I think they got it in their heads that they had this one in the bag,”
said Armstrong. “We didn’t finish off what we started to do. We need to
start playing the way we know we can play and not worry about how the
other team’s playing.”
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