Columbus East’s Krea Martin, left, and Caroline Frost, right, jump to block Bloomington North at Columbus East, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
The season opener for the Columbus East volleyball wasn’t as sharp the Olympians would have liked.
A lot of miscues throughout the match resulted in a 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 setback to visiting Bloomington North on Tuesday in the Orange Pit.
“We weren’t in our best form tonight,” East coach Ellyn McIntosh said. “We had trouble communicating with each other. We had trouble getting to the balls that we should be getting to. I think there were quite a bit of nerves tonight because we had some younger girls on the court. It was a lot of not being where we needed to be tonight.”
In the first set, the battle was tight early. After an Olympian service ace cut the deficit to 11-9, the Cougars rallied for four straight points to lead 15-9 that led to an East timeout. The Olympians got it to within three points a couple times, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
East jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. That lead quickly evaporated, however, as the Cougars charged back to pull ahead 10-6. Bloomington North extended the lead 18-9 and eventually closing out the set for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Bloomington North led 3-0 to start the third set. The Olympians kept the set competitive early, but with the score tied 8-8, the Cougars went on a 9-2 scoring run to break the set open at 17-10. East cut it to five points on a couple occasions, but Bloomington North closed out the set and match.
For the Olympians, Caroline Frost finished with nine kills, five blocks and an ace. Jenna Guse had 13 digs, six kills and a block. Kimberly Carothers recorded three kills and two blocks, and Chloe Gilley had 27 digs and an ace.
Also for East, Krea Martin tallied 17 assists and two aces. Addison Emery notched 10 digs, Lauren Smith added seven digs and Anika Jenkins had one block.
“We tried to get (our younger players) some playing time tonight. We tried to get some different kids in there and tried some different positions in an actual game setting,” McIntosh said. “Honestly, we still have some spots that are up in the air, and we’re seeing how fits in best with our dynamic and can help us out in those spots. Hopefully, we can find that out by the end of the season when it matters.”
