Crestview Cougars, Buckeye Central Buckettes put on a show to kick off volleyball season

OLIVESBURG - The Crestview Lady Cougars nearly pulled off a thrilling win over the Buckeye Central Buckettes on Saturday after noon in the 2018 high school volleyball season opener.

The two teams traded punches until there were no more punches to be thrown as Buckeye Central took the 5-set thriller 3-2. The Buckettes won the first set 25-19 after Crestview fell behind early.

The Lady Cougars bounced back in a big way, winning the second set 25-16 for the most lopsided victory of the day. Buckeye Central took set No. 3 25-19 before Crestview forced a fifth and final set with a 25-19 victory of their own in set No. 4.

The Buckettes used their experience in big games they gained last year during their run to the state tournament to take the fifth and deciding set 15-10.

It was a match of two of the area's best teams from 2017 after Buckeye Central made a run to state and Crestview won a Division III district championship. The match did not disappoint and kicked the 2018 high school volleyball season off right.

"What a great start," Buckeye Central coach Paige Caudill said. "What a great opponent to have for our first match. This is a no-joke game and for our girls to come out on top in this game is a big boost to the start of the season."

Crestview coach Jody Ritchey agreed. While the Lady Cougars may have gone home with a loss, the coach admits her team got better.

"They are a great team," Ritchey said. "We only got better from this game. We could play a weak schedule all season long and try to put together an undefeated record, but that is not our initiative. We want to play great team and get better from each game."

The Buckettes didn't exactly stuff the stat sheet, but saw nearly every player enter the game to contribute to the victory. Allison Weithman had 12 kills to go with her 34 assists and eight digs. Ally Sostowski added eight kills and seven digs while Lydia Ackerman had 21 digs and two aces. Courtney Pifher had five kills and two aces while Kendra Ackerman added 14 digs and Parker Phenicie added 12 digs.

The biggest day for Buckeye Central came from 6-foot-2 junior Lexi Evak, who had 16 kills, four solo blocks and four assist blocks including three in the fifth and final set to decide the game. 

"She gained a ton of experience last year playing that middle spot," Caudill said of the junior. "She is a player who we expect will continue to get better and do big things for us.

"Everyone played today," Caudill added. "In the second game, there were as many errors in that one than all other four combined. We have really been focusing on not letting a team rally off five (consecutive points). We really wanted to limit their runs to two and three. That mentality helped."

The Lady Cougars were led by senior Natalie Restille and sophomore Kenedi Goon. The duo had 15 kills apiece. Ristelle added 12 digs, two blocks and 14 points serving while Goon added 14 digs, 12 points and three aces.

"Kenedi is young," Ritchey said. "She just turned 15 so she is young, but she is so good. She sees the entire court so well and she is one of those hitters we want to get the ball to as many times as we can. We have a great spread attack and she really stepped up."

Kyla Brafford added seven kills and four blocks while Elly Motter had nine digs and 10 points. Kristen Poorman stepped in as the team's setter while senior Magey Shambre recovers from a concussion. Poorman had 37 assists, four points and one ace. Bre Swank had six kills, three blocks and four points. But it was sophomore Autumn Bailey who made a huge impression with six blocks, one kill, seven points and two aces as she showed off her athletic ability.

"Autumn's athleticism is crazy," Ritchey said. "She has the highest vertical (jump) on the team. She has an incredible block and she is always so aggressive and so hungry for the ball. Sometimes, I have to tell her to not reach over and pull it back. She is only a sophomore and she is growing and learning." 

The Lady Cougars may have lost the game, but they learned something about themselves: ball control needs to be a major priority moving forward.

"They made some nice runs on us," Ritchey said. "We struggled at times with our ball control. We need that to be better so we can get the ball to our bigs. Some of it was nerves and playing new positions. They are still finding their feet."

The Lady Cougars start the season off 0-1 but are back in action on Tuesday, hosting Mapleton as their quest for their first Firelands Conference championship since 1996 begins.

The Buckettes kicked off their Northern 10 Conference championship defense 1-0. They host Crawford County rival Wynford on Tuesday to open N10 play.

jfurr@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JakeFurr11