Yorkโ Wildcats Fall โคto Washington Academy in Class B โขVolleyball Championship
AUGUSTA, Maine – The York Wildcats volleyball โคteam saw their championship run end Saturday with a 3-2 loss to Washington Academy in the Maine Classโข B โคchampionship game. โขDespite a resilient comeback, York was โขultimately defeated after a hard-fought โbattle at the Augusta Civicโข center.
York โHead Coach Michael Hillโค acknowledged the match’sโฃ difficulty. “It was going to be a tough match,” Hill said. “We had a lot of holes that we fell into early,and weโค were able to climb out of them and able to โget it to a โfifth set.”
York forced โa โคdecisive fifth set after facing a challenging match.Hill explained โthe team focused on chipping away at deficits to reach a fifth-and-deciding set. “We were โขable to find the strength to hammer thru it,” Hill said. “It’s such a momentum game,and as โsoon โขas the momentum shifted,we took that fourth set and rodeโ it โout all the way toโ the end โขof the fifth.”
The fourth setโ saw Washington Academy โคinitially leading 12-6 โbefore York rallied withโ sixโ consecutiveโ points to โtie the setโข at 12-12.The teams traded points, reaching โ22-22, then โขWashington Academy gained game point at 24-23. york battled back to 24-24,โ and afterโ another Washington Academy โpoint, โคa โserve โwent long, tyingโ it at 25-25.โ York thenโฃ took a 26-25 lead, ultimately winning the set on a block by Sophie coite that ricochetedโค offโฃ a Washington player.”we stayedโ strong in the head and climbed our โฃway out, andโ we just missed โit at the end,”โข Hill said.
York won the first setโ 25-23, overcoming an early 8-2โค deficit that prompted a timeout from Hill. however, โขWashington Academy controlled the secondโฃ and third sets, despite York starting the third set with a 5-2 lead. โ
Hill credited Washington Academy’s strategic โขplay. โค”They did a great job of spreading the ball around and utilizing all โฃof its hitters,as well as putting โthe ball in tough โspots that York had to scramble for,” he said. “I think one thingโ (Washington) realized about usโ is thatโข if they let us hit the ball, we were goingโค to score a lot of points. They really put the ball in tough spots, made our defense โฃscramble and really limited ourโฃ ability to put the ball away.”
