COLUMBUS — The Columbus High School volleyball team earned a victory vs Edna High School Oct. 1 at Marley Giddens Gym in Colum- bus by a final score of 25-15, 23-25, 25-21-25-21.
Edna gave the Lady Cardinals a great battle throughout the entire match, but Columbus was able to hang tough and find ways to grind out wins in three out of four sets.
“It was a team effort win,” said Columbus head volleyball coach Kayley Johns. “A lot of people stepped up, played really good de- fense, talked a lot. Edna definitely has good defense themselves and they were being super scrappy running things down. Keeping the ball in play and then mixing up their shots coming back at us, whether they were tipping, hitting, whatever. Ultimately, I think the girls kind of regrouped together, wanted it really bad. Great, great team effort there for sure.”
Lady Cardinals senior outside hitter Taylor Morrow recorded 13 kills for the match and was an important part for Columbus offensively. Morrow also notched her 700th career kill.
“It was all about team work,” Morrow said. “No person did just one job. We all stuck together and all had good, positive energy. It’s really fun being a senior and being part of it.”
Two aces in a row from Colum- bus gave them a 6-1 lead in the first set, then after a more even middle of the set, a mishit from Edna made it 14-7 and forced Edna to call a timeout. Columbus went on to score five points in a row and put it at 20- 9, which forced the Cowgirls to call another timeout. Two kills in a row from junior Gracie Schobel gave Columbus a 22-11 advantage, then a few mistakes back and forth led to a
final kill from Columbus to win the set 25-15.
After a bunch of kills from Columbus and a few points from Edna in the second set, another kill from Columbus made it 11-6 and forced Edna to call a timeout. As a kill from Morrow made it 16-11 in favor of the Lady Cardinals, Edna slowly started to creep back into the game with a two tip balls in a row and some mistakes from Columbus to ultimately tie it at 19. Morrow added a tip ball and a kill as both teams traded points, then a tip ball from Edna senior Shanti Guerra won them the set at 25-23.
The two teams traded punches early in the third set before the Lady Cardinals started to pull away after a kill to make it 15-10 and force Edna to call a timeout. Edna climbed back once again with a couple tip balls, a block, and a few kills to tie it at 20. A tip ball from Schobel made it 21-21, then two balls out of bounds and a ball in the net from Edna won Co- lumbus the set 25-21.
Edna started the fourth set on
fire with five-consecutive points on an ace, a few kills, and a ball out of bounds from Columbus to take a 5-0 lead, forcing Columbus to call a timeout.
The Lady Cardinals did the fight - ing back this time and tied it at 13 on a kill from Morrow after a bunch of kills and a couple aces, one ace being from Morrow and one from sophomore defensive specialist Mary Fitzgerald.
Both teams traded points for the remainder of the set and Columbus was able to salvage a small lead in the last few points of the set on a ball out of bounds from Edna to make it 22-20. Columbus went on to score the fi nal three points on a serve in the net from Edna, a tip ball from Morrow, and a tip ball from Schobel to win the set and match 25-21.
