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New Knoxville's Paige Webb (6) goes up to spike the ball during Monday's volleyball match with Jackson Center at the Barn.
NEW KNOXVILLE - After dropping the opening set, New Knoxville went on a 10-3 run midway through the second and maintained the momentum the rest of the night.
The Rangers used the momentum to chalk up a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-14) victory over Jackson Center on Monday evening at the Barn.
The Tigers (4-10) took a 2-1 lead in the first set and never trailed. New Knoxville fell behind by as much as five points early, but battled back to tie the set at 16. Jackson Center responded with a 4-1 run to take a 20-17 lead and then pulled away down the stretch, scoring five of the last eight points.
New Knoxville was the quick starter in the second set, jumping out to an 11-6 lead with big kills from Paige Webb and Avery Albers.
Addison Albers took over at the service line with back-to-back-to-back aces, pushing the Ranger margin to 18-8. Kinley Rutschilling added an ace down the stretch along with one from Avery and one more from Addison.
New Knoxville's Kinley Rutschilling spikes the ball.
The Tigers dropped the second set 25-17, and never really recovered the rest of the night.
"I think the two biggest changes we made after the first set were, defensively we just didn't let balls drop," New Knoxville coach Madison Hoehne said. "Early on we were very lackadaisical at the net and in the back court. And secondly I think our servers did a lot better job finding seams and making the serve-receivers really have to move to get to the ball."
After falling behind early in the third set, The Tigers made a move to take their first lead at 18-17. But Avery Albers responded with three consecutive monster kills. Webb added a kill and Avery struck again, polishing off a 5-0 run to take a 23-18 lead that turned into a 25-19 set win.
New Knoxville's Avery Albers heads to the floor to save the ball.
"Avery does a good job of giving our team momentum, but it starts with the pass," Hoehne said. "Our passers did a really good job and Addi could run a good flowing offense."
New Knoxville opened up a five-point lead in the final set and pulled away down the stretch taking the final six points for the 25-14 margin.
Avery Albers and Webb finished with 16 and 13 kills respectively. Addison Albers notched 33 assists, 20 digs and six aces. Rutschilling added 18 digs.
The Rangers evened their record at 7-7, and with less than two weeks until the tournament draw, Hoehne is looking for her team to peak at the opportune time.
"We've played some awesome teams, and we've played them very competitively. I would put us up against anyone," she said. "It's a matter of fine-tuning some things. We have to get better and more consistent on the serve and just find our rhythm. We've been up and down like a roller coaster. I think we're finding our groove and now it's all about peaking at the right time."
The Rangers return to Midwest Athletic Conference play on Thursday when Fort Recovery visits the Barn.
