After falling in the second round of the Rocky River Conference Tournament in a five-set thriller to RRC tourney runner-up Parkwood, the Anson High School Lady Bearcat Volleyball Team hopes to carry that competitive spirit into Tuesday’s playoff opener against the West Davidson Lady Dragons (20-4).
The Lady Bearcats kicked off last week’s RRC tournament with a sweep of Forest Hills (3-18, 2-10) 25-9, 25-14 and 25-7. Anson middle hitter Alene Baxter had a team-leading 12 kills, with outside hitter Brooklyn Miles a distant second with 6 kills while setter Allie Steagall and middle hitter Eva Hyatt downed 4 each. Baxter tied libero Hannah Austin and defensive specialist Sophia Yang with the trio each sinking 3 serves. Defensively, Austin had a team-leading 9 digs, followed by 7 from outside hitter Layla Britt, a freshman late edition to the varsity roster, followed by Miles and Steagall, who had 6 each.
With each of their previous two matches featuring plenty of fireworks with Parkwood taking the first in a five-set thriller and later in a 3-1 match that was closer than the scorebook would indicate, last Thursday’s five-set loss to Parkwood did not disappoint. Anson opened the match after going into extra sets on a 26-24 victory but briefly lost its momentum in the second with a 25-17 loss. The Lady Bearcats reasserted themselves in the third with a 25-20 victory, but Parkwood ended as the victor after taking the fourth and fifth sets 25-17 and 15-12 respectively.
Miles ended the night as Anson’s leading scorer with 14 kills, followed by Baxter’s 9 and Britt’s 5. Despite only her second game on the varsity roster, Britt also had a team-leading 3 aces, followed by Steagall and Miles, who had 1 each. Defensively, Steagall had an astounding 36 digs, followed by Austin with 26 and Miles with 21. Hyatt had 3 blocks followed by Miles and Baxter, who had 1 each.