But the loss won’t deter Arrows coach Michelle Smith from her goals for the up-and-coming program.
“We were in the position to take the third game from them,” said Smith, whose team is now 8-6 overall and 4-2 in the CBC. “We were up by four at one point (20-16) and just couldn’t put together a finish.
“Tipp is a very strong, physical team, and they are very good at throwing other teams out of their system. Our goal was to play smarter than them, and we just didn’t get the job done.”
But Smith saw several things her team can build on.
“We have three more matches this week, and we actually played better as a team (Tuesday) night than we did all last week,” said Smith. “So we’re going to stay focused on being positive and finishing the week and rest of our schedule strong.
“We expect to have a nice run heading into tournament.”
Their future also looks bright with Erika Holt as their only senior starter.
No more unbeatens
The area’s last two unbeaten teams suffered their first losses — ironically both on Monday night with both being beaten in three games.
Kenton Ridge handled Emmanuel Christian 25-16, 25-23, 25-23, while Southeastern got some revenge for an early-season five-game loss to West Liberty-Salem by beating the Tigers 25-22, 29-27, 27-25.
The losses didn’t threaten the Lions’ and Tigers’ perch atop their respective leagues, though.
WLS is still a game ahead of Southeastern and Catholic Central in the Ohio Heritage Conference. Emmanuel Christian enjoys a one-game advantage over Dayton Christian in the Metro Buckeye Conference.
Prior to Monday’s loss, WLS had moved up into a tie for 10th in the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Division III weekly poll.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.
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