Sidney freshman middle blocker Gabby Truesdale, right, and junior setter Alena Swearingen try to block a spike during a Miami Valley League match against Xenia on Tuesday in Sidney. The Yellow Jackets stopped a three-match losing streak with a 3-1 defeat of the Buccaneers.
Bryant Billing | Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — The Sidney Yellow Jackets took a 3-1 victory over Xenia Buccaneers at Sidney High School on Tuesday.
Sidney (8-7, 8-4 Miami Valley League Valley Division) battled substantial adversity on Tuesday evening with several instances of communication costing the Yellow Jackets points.
Sidney entered Tuesday’s game with a 1-4 record in its last five games after starting its season 6-3.
“Towards the midway point of this season we started hitting a funk in team chemistry,” Yellow Jackets head coach Dexter Tobie said. “I told them we just need to play the way we know how to play. It’s a battle we’ve been trying really hard to push through.”
After an 11-11 start to the first set, Sidney rallied following a timeout en route to a 25-16 victory.
The hiccups seemed to go away for the majority of the second set as the Yellow Jackets were able to get the win 25-17.
In the third set Xenia (4-9, 2-8) was dominant, taking a 10-3 lead over Sidney before the first timeout of the set. The Yellow Jackets seemed to put the rally to bed, getting the serve back while they trailed 4-11 but the Buccaneers kept the throttle down.
Sidney rallied late but it was unable to bridge the gap and lost set three 20-25.
Sidney was an entirely different team in the fourth set as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the set and held a 17-5 lead when Xenia took its first timeout.
“The atmosphere on the court and the bench really changed,” Tobie said about the fourth set. “We really stepped up and were supporting our second middle, Reagan Oswalt, who had an amazing game.
“We played together in that last set. We’re learning to have fun again, sometimes we get too serious about things and we forget the point of the game is to have fun. It’s not a one person game, our goal is to play together and have fun.”
The Yellow Jackets didn’t let up, taking a 25-8 victory in set four for the 3-1 win.
On the season, Sidney is led in points by Cynthia Davidson with 173 trailed closely by Maggie Turner with 172. Davidson leads the team in kills with 148 and digs with 163. Alena Swearingen holds the lead in assists with 308.
Davidson had 14 kills on Tuesday while Oswalt and senior Kaitlyn Adams each had eight. Junior Kalesha Rush had seven and Swearingen had six. Swearingen had 34 assists. Davidson also led the team with 15 digs while junior Ivy Roberts had 13 and Swearingen had 12.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action this Tuesday where they travel to take on Northmont at 6:45 p.m.
Fort Loramie runs winning streak to 11
Fort Loramie, which has been ranked No. 1 in Division VII in the first two state coaches association polls of the year, dominated Houston on Tuesday to earn its 11th consecutive victory.
Fort Loramie beat Houston 25-12, 25-14, 25-6 on its home court. Avery Brandewie had 12 kills and Victoria Mescher had 10. Brandewie had six aces. Jenna Barhorst had 30 assists.
Fort Loramie (13-1, 7-0 Shelby County Athletic League) beat St. Henry (10-3) 25-17, 25-21, 25-16 on Saturday. Brandewie had 14 kills and 13 digs.
Botkins battles to .500
The Botkins Trojans beat Hardin Northern in straight sets on Thursday at Botkins High School.
The Trojans (7-7, 1-5) won a nailbiter first set 26-24 before shutting Hardin down 25-15 and 25-11 over the next two sets.
Kaitlyn Meyer led the team with eight kills, Jana Metz notched 19 assists and Madison Loy led Botkins with five aces and 18 digs.
“We didn’t play the cleanest first set but we figured it out and came on strong for the next two,” Trojans head coach Sara Brown said. “We served really well in that third set, I’m proud of the team.”
Botkins plays Fort Loramie, which is ranked number one in the state in D-VII, at home on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Anna falls in straight sets
The Anna Rockets were unable to take a set at home on Tuesday against Jackson Center.
Anna (10-5, 5-2) narrowly dropped the first set 23-25 and kept the scores competitive in the last two despite losing 19-25 and 18-25 respectively.
The Rockets are led in digs by Madison Mumaw with 240, assists by Izzy Jenkins with 369 and kills by Ava Reed with 147 on the season.
Next, Anna takes on Russia at the new Dave Borchers Memorial Court on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Reach Sidney Daily News assistant editor and sports editor Ryan Harless at 937-509-2170, or follow @RyanHarless_ on Twitter.
