Athens beats Wellston in three games

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Athens defeated Wellston 25-11, 25-10, 25-10. Athens is now 2-0 in the TVC.

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Here is the report on the game. Enjoy.

Bulldogs sweep Lady Rockets

By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor

WELLSTON — So far, so good for the Athens High School volleyball team as a member of the Tri-Valley Conference.

With the phrase “New League, New Legacy” on the back of their warm-up shirts, the Bulldogs are indeed making an early mark in the TVC-Ohio.

Athens, after winning its league opener against Nelsonville-York on Tuesday, made it two-for-two in the TVC-Ohio with a three-game sweep of the Wellston Lady Rockets on Thursday.

Athens cruised in the first set 25-11, followed by back-to-back 25-10 victories in the final two games.

The Bulldogs now boast a 2-1 record, while Wellston remains winless at 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the league.

The rebuilding Lady Rockets were swept in all three matches this week, including at Meigs on Tuesday and non-league Oak Hill on Monday.

The only time in which Athens was seriously challenged on Thursday came during the second game, in which the Bulldogs and Wellston stood tied at 4-4.

But eight straight points, including three service aces by sophomore Shawna Whitehead, opened up a 12-4 advantage that soon swelled to as large as 13 three times.

In fact, from a 22-10 advantage in game two, Athens scored eight straight points to begin the third set before the Rockets closed the gap to 8-3.

However, five more Bulldog points doubled the margin, as Athens coasted to its second 25-10 win and ultimately the match.

Athens amassed several aces against the Rockets, which struggled heavily with hitting and attack errors.

For the match, the Rockets recorded just 11 kills, and struggled in serving with only 18 good serves.

While Wellston struggled, the Bulldogs did not.

“We had a good performance tonight and we were able to get everybody in,” said Athens coach Kelli Dyer.

That’s because the Bulldogs built themselves some hefty leads.

They were never seriously challenged in game three, and opened up leads of 3-0 and 5-3 in the first game before 10 straight points pushed the cushion to as high as 15-4.

Speaking of 10 points, in the latter stages of each game, Wellston crept no closer than that.

Athens’ 25-11 final marked the largest margin in game one.

Dyer said the Bulldogs “have been working on staying ahead.”

“We’ve been working on that because we’ve had a problem staying ahead when we get ahead,” she said. “Sometimes, we want to play down and let teams come back. But tonight, we really kept that gap and never let them back in it. That’s what we needed to do.”

Junior Cindy Willis wound up with eight kills while fellow junior Caity Willis finished with seven digs.

Whitehead had four aces, Jane Seymour four kills and Kayla Nicholson notched six assists.

The error-prone, yet young and inexperienced, Lady Rockets received three kills and three blocks from junior Emily Trace.

Wellston’s largest — and only — leads of the night came in the second game when it leapt out to leads of 3-1 and 4-2.

But 10 straight points, including the go-ahead block by Caity Willis and three aces from Whitehead, forced Wellston to call a timeout facing a 9-4 deficit.

They would get no closer than a nine-point margin from there.

The Bulldogs closed the first and second games out with three straight points, followed by four straight points in the final game.

Athens is back at home, and back in TVC-Ohio action, when it hosts Vinton County on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Wellston returns to division action at Nelsonville-York.