By: Nate Calvin
DEFIANCE – These two teams met back on October 2nd in the championship game of the Archbold Spiketacular where Archbold won 2-1 (25-21, 25-27, 25-21).
It was a different story in the rematch at Defiance High School as Tinora (20-4) won the first two highly competitive sets and then dominated the fourth to get the district semifinal win 25-23, 27-25, 22-25, 25-9.
Tinora started fast by jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the opening set and after a Archbold net violation the lead was 8-4.
The Rams that tallied four of the next five points to push their lead to 12-5 and forcing the Streaks to take their first timeout of the set to try and stop the momentum.
Archbold then put together their first scoring run of the night, this one 5-0, with the help of a kill by Olivia Liechty and back-to-back aces from Chaney Brodbeck.
Tinora increased their lead to 21-16 before a 6-1 Bluestreak spurt was capped off by a kill from Keely Culler to tie the score at 22-22. Tinora then got two kills and an Archbold hitting error to close out a 25-23 win in the first set.
The second set again saw the Rams jump to the early lead at 3-1, but the Bluestreaks rallied and after a kill by Brodbeck, Archbold had their first lead of the night at 5-4.
With the score tied 10-10, it was a 6-1 run by Tinora ending with a kill by Quinn Horn to grab a 16-11 lead.
It was then Archbold’s turn as they outscored Tinora 11-6, featuring four kills by Brodbeck to deadlock the score at 22-22.
The Rams went ahead 24-22 but Archbold fought off multiple opportunities by Tinora to end the set and after another kill by Brodbeck, the set was tied 25-25.
Tinora though took the final two points of the set thanks to a serving error and hitting error by the Bluestreaks to take the set 27-25 and go up 2-0.
Archbold raced out to the early lead in the third by taking a 5-1 lead before Tinora responded with an 8-3 surge to tie the score at 9-9.
Neither team was able to take a big lead through the middle of the set, with Tinora’s Emma Chaffins delivering kill making it 22-22 for the third straight set.
This time it was Archbold who was able to make the plays down the stretch as Ella Bowman registered two blocks and Brodbeck ended the set with a kill to keep Archbold alive.
Tinora quickly regained control in the fourth by building a 6-3 lead before three straight points by Archbold evened the score at 6-6.
A 6-3 Tinora spurt gave them a 12-9 lead, setting the stage for the Rams to score the last 13 points of the set, aided by three aces from Chaffins, to finish off the match.
Brodbeck had 17 kills to go with four aces on the night, Bowman recorded five blocks, and Addi Ziegler dished out 38 assists.
Archbold ends their season with a record of 20-4 to go along with a sectional and NWOAL championship. Tinora will take on top seeded Lake in the district final on Thursday night.
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com