The Northwest Mohawks stole a road victory against the Valley Indians in a highly competitive five set match Thursday night in Lucasville.
The Northwest Mohawks overcame some late drama Thursday night as they toughed out a five set victory over the Valley Indians by a final score of 25-16, 19-25, 25-15 26-28, and 15-9.
Northwest put the pressure on the Indians early into the first set as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Despite the early lead, the first set would become a back and forth fight between the two evenly matched SOC teams.
Northwest would begin to pull away behind sophomore Haiyden Wamsley’s dominant offensive play. Northwest would extend their lead to 21-15, forcing an Indians timeout. Northwest would continue to roll as they won the opening set by a final score of 25-16.
Valley bounced right back to open the second set, gaining the momentum early and getting a quick 11-5 lead. The Mohawks would rally and eventually tie the second set at 15-15. After a few lead changes, the Indians would get some separation and ultimately win the second set by a score of 25-19.
The third set would be the most lopsided set of the match, one in which Northwest dominated on defense and from the service line in route to a 25-15 victory.
With Northwest looking to put the game away and Valley looking to tie the game up, the fourth set would be the most dramatic one of the night. Valley would quickly get a 4-0 lead on the Mohawks as they took advantage of some early Mohawk miscues. Northwest would overcome these early mistakes though and come to within one point of the lead. Going into Valley’s first timeout of the set, the score was 10-9.
Haiyden Wamsley would again take over the offense as she had two huge points that put Northwest on the verge of clinching the match. Valley would rally back, though, fighting off three game points as senior Bailee Day would eventually put the Indians over the top as they won the 4th set, 28-26.
The fifth set would begin to feel a lot like the fourth set as Valley would fight back after going down 6-3 to come to within one point of the Mohawks. The score would read 9-8 as Northwest took their first timeout of the set. Their success, however, was short lived as Northwest would seize the momentum coming out of this timeout, and eventually put away the Indians behind sophomore Valerie Eury’s game winner. The final score of the last set of the night would read 15-9.
The Indians will next travel to Wheelersburg next Tuesday to face the Pirates in an SOC II matchup with JV beginning at 5:30 p.m.
As for the Mohawks, they will travel to Oak Hill Tuesday evening to face the Oaks, with JV also beginning at 5:30 p.m.