Columbus North’s Kennedy Horn spikes the ball against Columbus East’s Krea Martin during Thursday’s match in Memorial Gymnasium at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Given the way the volleyball season has gone for Columbus East, it seemed almost inevitable that Columbus North would snap its long losing streak to the Olympians.
East, however, wasn’t ready to give up city supremacy without a fight.
The Bull Dogs had to fight off three set-points in the first set Thursday night before gaining control and going on to post a 26-24, 25-20,-25-21 victory. It was their first win against the Olympians since the 2017 sectional, their first on-court regular-season victory over East since 2001 and only their fourth victory overall against the Olympians since they began playing volleyball in 1977.
“It’s awesome,” North coach Jenna Ortega said. “It’s been so long, and East has always had the talent. They’re still a very talented group. We have just been working really hard, and this is one of our games which was one of our goals. The girls were just ready to make that streak end.”
East (3-22) didn’t make it easy on the Bull Dogs (15-14). The Olympians jumped out to a 9-1 lead behind the serving of Krea Martin and Lauren Smith. East still led 20-14 before North rallied to tie it at 21-21 with Ally Wettschurack and Morgan Osborn at the service line. Martin then served the Olympians back to a 24-21 lead before the Bull Dogs scored five in a row behind the serving of Reese Edwards to take the first set.
“We had a little problem tonight with staying in rotation,” East coach Alison Eagleman said. “Somehow, both of my outside hitters ended up in the front row together. They got out of rotation right from the start, so if we would have been in the correct spots that we needed to be, I think we could have won the first set.”
After North led the second set from start to finish, East jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the third set. The Olympians still led 21-19 before the Bull Dogs got a side out. They tied it on an Osborn ace, then got kills from Kennedy Horn and Sydney Ousley and two East hitting errors to finish off the match.
“I’m so proud of the team,” Horn said. “We really fought through. We were down for awhile. I think we just came together and worked as a team, and we knew what we had to do, and we accomplished that, and I’m really proud of us.”
“It’s a huge accomplishment, and I’m so glad I got to accomplish it my senior year,” Edwards added. “We started off slow, but we really showed what our full potential is as a team and what we’ve been working toward all year.”
Horn led the Bull Dogs with 14 kills and two aces. Edwards recorded 17 assists, Addy Dean had three blocks, Osborn notched 14 digs and Holly Evans served two aces.
Also for North, Ousley pounded seven kills, Karen Dutro added six kills and two blocks. Horn also had two blocks, and Edwards tallied 13 digs.
”Every year with the East game, it’s more of a mental game than anything,” Ortega said. “They come in, and it’s just getting those emotions out of the way, getting in the groove of things to kind of get them going. It’s the biggest crowd we get that they play in front of, so it was more getting refocused.”
Martin recorded 16 assists and two aces, and Smith had 12 digs and two aces to lead East. Anika Jenkins pounded six kills, Lilah Klei and Rahianna Logan each had one solo and two assist blocks and Addison Emery served two aces.
Kimberly Carothers and Chloe Gill each added five kills for the Olympians, who had taken Bloomington South to five sets in a loss on Tuesday.
“This has been neat the last two games watching them step it up considerably from the beginning of the season,” Eagleman said.
