Marathon matchup

ST. MARYS - If St. Marys wanted to savor every second of Senior Night, mission accomplished.

The four seniors - Halle Huston, Darcie Liming, Addison Lauth and Gracelyn Johns - and their teammates played a five-set barnburner with Minster at Grand Lake Health System Court, and the Roughriders came away a 3-2 winner (25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10).

"We always anticipate that any team we're playing, especially if they're from the (Midwest Athletic Conference), that they're going to be scrappy and definitely know how to battle," St. Marys coach Caley Yoder said. "So, I'm glad we were able to match the intensity and come out with a win."

The Roughriders (9-6) outscored the Wildcats 7-2 to finish off set five and complete the rally from a 2-1 deficit in the match. It was non-stop back-and-forth all night.

A scoring outburst by Huston put St. Marys in control during the first set, but the hosts did not stay in control for long. Huston had a kill and a pair of aces to help give the Roughriders their then-largest lead at 13-7. The counterpunch came from Minster's Kayla Lamm, who racked up four kills during a short stretch as her team cut St. Marys' lead to just one point.

But hitting errors were far too common for Minster down the stretch. The score was 19-18 when Huston struck for another kill, and a quartet of Minster hitting blunders helped St. Marys close out a 25-18 win.

Brynn Clark added to her kill and block totals at the start of set two, leading St. Marys out to a 7-2 advantage. Minster made a run, though, with an ace by Brooklyn Osterloh aiding in cutting the score to 11-8. But another spike by Clark stopped that run, and St. Marys went on to expand its lead to 17-9.

Of course, Minster wasn't done.

The Wildcats came roaring back to tie the set for the first time at 19-all, then took their first lead on the next volley. Lyndi Hemmelgarn hit an ace, Hannah Oldiges had a kill, and Lilly Barhorst added two spikes, one to tie it at 19 and then another to take the lead. Lamm and Lyndi Hemmelgarn tacked on an aces.

Minster faced a 23-21 deficit before rallying, and Lamm's ace and another Barhorst kill highlighted Minster's 4-0 run to close the set. An out-of-bounds hit by St. Marys officially tied the match at 1-apiece.

There were eight ties in the third set. It was 10-all when Addi Inskeep's kill and stuff at the net and a Barhorst kill gave Minster a three-point advantage. The set was tied again at 20, 21, and 22, then the Wildcats finished. The final three points went to Minster courtesy of a Megan Fortman kill and block and a Barhorst ace.

Minster scored the first three points of set four, but St. Marys tallied the next six. The lead was never returned to the Wildcats, though it stayed close throughout. The hosts were up 15-10 after a Huston ace, but aces from Inskeep and Alayna Prenger later trimmed Minster's deficit to 16-14. A kill by Clark halted said run.

Minster attempted to make another late-game move, but a kill from Addison Lauth and another hitting blunder completed a 25-20 win for St. Marys.

The final set was even at 1-, 3-, 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-all. A block by Syerra Greber broke the 8-all tie, and St. Marys led for the remainder. Clark hammered home three kills during crunch time, and her stuff at the net closed a 15-10 victory.

"St. Marys probably has one of their better teams that they've had in a handful of years," Minster coach Cami Garman said. "I knew coming into tonight that we'd probably match up really well and it'd probably be really competitive.

"We've been hitting well and hitting efficiently this year," she added. "But the last two matches, we were negative and we were almost negative tonight. I think our setters are kind of setting inconsistently right now, and when we are off, our hitters are not doing a good job adjusting to where they're hitting the ball. That's why we're seeing errors. I thought we served a good game tonight. We had a lot of errors, but we earned a lot of points on our serves, too. I just don't think we were consistent on our side of the net."

Barhorst posted team-highs in kills (13) and blocks (four) for Minster (5-6), which finished with 29 hitting errors. Lamm also had a big night with 10 kills and four blocks. Macy Prenger led the way in digs with 16. Prenger had 18 assists.

Both teams return to conference play on Thursday. St. Marys hosts Van Wert and Minster travels to St. Henry.