By Kalen Lumpkins
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
HOLLAND — The Perrysburg boys volleyball team swept Springfield 25-13, 25-20, 25-10 on Thursday. Perrysburg opens the season 2-0 and has dropped just one set out of seven sets.
“We just made sure that we were doing the right things,” Perrysburg coach Troy Zabawa said. “Keeping them out of their system [and] making our serves so that we could extend plays and go from there.”
The first set saw the Blue Devils come out with plenty of energy, as senior Brendan Tarris started with two fierce kills. Add in some early Perrysburg errors, and Springfield ran to an early 4-1 lead.
The Yellow Jackets quickly flipped the momentum to their side, however. Three kills and an ace by senior Jake Ng helped create a 6-0 Perrysburg run to give the black and gold a 10-6 lead.
The pressure seemed to be catching up to Springfield after the run, as a few Blue Devil errors brought the Perrysburg lead to 14-7. Springfield coach Tyler Haughawout called a time out to get his flustered team back on the same page.
The time out seemed to help briefly, with the blue and white scoring back-to-back points. Perrysburg, though, responded with two points of their own.
The home crowd made some noise halfway through the first set to try to give their Blue Devils a much-needed spark. Unfortunately for the home team, they continued to beat themselves with four more errors, ballooning the Perrysburg lead to eight. Coach Haughawout was forced to call another timeout.
Out of the timeout, a potential Blue Devil kill was emphatically sent back by sophomore Ethan Gray, his second block of the set.
Perrysburg scored the final seven points, taking the first set 25-13. This would be the time since the season opener that Springfield has dropped a set at any point in a match.
The second set started like the first, with a Tarris ace bringing the Blue Devils to an early 4-2 lead.
The momentum stayed with the home team this set, with a block from senior Will Smith bringing the crowd to their feet. The block was one of four straight Springfield points.
Perrysburg ended the run on a powerful kill from sophomore Ethan Gray. This would give Perrysburg the lead at 8-7.
Suddenly, the Blue Devils began inflicting wounds on themselves, just like the first set. Errors, like not being set for serves, helped the Yellow Jackets create a five-point lead.
This is when Perrysburg knew that everything was clicking on their side. A couple of ferocious kills by Gray and Lukas Pollock ballooned the lead for the away team to 17-10.
Momentum shifts were a big part of this matchup, and each team would respond to runs. After being down by seven, the home team used stiff defense to cut the lead to two, forcing a timeout from Coach Zabawa.
The timeout would end up proving ineffective, as Springfield continued bringing the pressure to tie the match at 18. The teams then traded points to be knotted up at 19.
Despite giving up the large run, Perrysburg never gave up a late lead in the second set. Junior Will Keller scored what one would call a lucky point, giving the road team a hard-fought 25-20 second set win.
The third set kicked off differently than the first two, as Perrysburg scored the first two points. The Blue Devils caught a tough break, as a kill was overturned due to the ball being hit while still on the opposing side.
The road team kept pouring on kills, as they quickly ran out to a 7-0 lead.
“[We] just [have to] communicate more,” Haughawout said. “This (team) is still from scratch, and from what I seen we need to fix up those communication errors, and that will come,”
Springfield would not get much closer after the 7-0 run, as the away team led by at least five the rest of the way. The match ended with a Perrysburg 14-3 run, giving the Yellow Jackets the sweep with a 25-10 third set.
In their season opener, Perrysburg won on the road against Amherst Steele 22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 last Tuesday.
Springfield will travel to play Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit on March 16 at 12:30 p.m., while Perrysburg will host Toledo Christian on March 18 at 6 p.m. in the Yellow Jackets’ home opener, which will be played at Hull Prairie Intermediate School.
