Arcanum wins opening two sets before falling to Lady Arrows.
CAMDEN – The visiting Arcanum Trojans lost a disappointing match against Preble Shawnee. The game did go to 5 sets but it was frustrating for Arcanum as they won the first two sets only to then go on to lose the next three sets. It ended up being a closely fought match that was heated at times, but it was Shawnee that captured the late momentum in the win. Scoring: 25-17, 28-26, 23-25, 23-25, 10-15.
Taylor Gray and Sarah Koehl were both factors in the first two sets. They attacked vigorously on the front line and kept Shawnee on their heels. You could see that part of Shawnee’s strategy was to keep the ball away from Gray and attack around her. In the first set, Shawnee lead from start to finish. Gray had several kills late in the match to put the Arrows away by a respectable 25-17 score.
Coach O’Dell, “Taylor Gray and Sarah Koehl are my two strongest hitters. Taylor is the one we look to on this team. She is front row and back row – just a good all around player. Sarah is a good outside hitter. We recently switched her and she is a strong, smart hitter.”
But in the next four sets Arcanum was slow out of the gate and spotted the Arrows a lead. This meant that Arcanum had to play catch up on the the road. In the second set they were able to battle back and gain the lead. Koehl helped spark a 6-1 Arcanum run midway through the match and Mollie Erikson scored a key point late to propel Arcanum to closely fought 28-26 win. Arcanum fans had to be hoping for a quick three set night.
But Shawnee had other plans. Although there were several ties, Arcanum never lead in the third set. They were down 15-20 at one point, battled back to to make it close, but could not close the gap. It seemed like Arcanum had lost their mojo.
The fourth set was the most bitterly fought on the night. There were a total of 11-ties. Arcanum did have their chance – Koehl gave Arcanum the lead late in the match. She had a kill and then an ace to put Arcanum up 22-20. This would turn out to be the high water mark for the Trojans on the night. The Trojans could not fend off the Shawnee surge and were out scored 5-2 down the stretch.
“They are a great team and they are strong. We did come out strong ourselves in the beginning but I felt like we let up. We talk about this – that as a team we need to be more consistent and finish strong. I mean we played hard, but I felt like we let up and you can’t do that against a tough team.”
In the last set Shawnee really attacked hard at the net at first, then backed off and put a few soft shots over the net for scores. Coach O’Dell took several time outs, but Arcanum could not seem to find an answer and allowed Shawnee to grow a lead for the victory 10-15.
