ARCANUM – Covington coach Ellie Cain has seen her father Lonnie and her mother Marti have success in the past leading the Lady Buccs as the head coach in volleyball. Now, in her second season at the helm, Ellie Cain is making her own mark on the volleyball program.
The Covington Lady Buccs swept Sidney Fairlawn in three sets to claim the sectional championship at Arcanum High School on Monday. And even though Covington was able to win all three sets, Fairlawn made the Lady Buccs work for the victory.
Covington entered the tournament seeded 5th and advanced to the sectional final with wins over 11th seed Yellow Springs and 14th seed Botkins. Along the way, the Lady Buccs didn’t lose a single set.
Fairlawn entered the tournament as the 8th seed and upset #4 seed Newton in the opening round and then knocked off #7 seed Cedarville to set up a showdown with the Lady Buccs.
The opening set was a back-and-forth battle as Covington held a slim 19-17 lead. A big kill by sophomore Abbey Reynolds ignited the Lady Buccs, who went on a 6-0 run to close out the set with a 25-17 win.
Covington used the momentum to build a big lead in the second set, but Fairlawn battled back to cut the Lady Buccs’ advantage to 21-17 and force a timeout. Covington was able to close out the set with a 25-19 win to go up 2-0.
The trend continued in the third and final set as Fairlawn took and early lead only to see Covington go on a run of its own to reclaim the momentum late. Leading 23-19, the Lady Buccs had a difficult time putting the game away as Fairlawn closed the gap to 24-23.
Fortunately, after a timeout, Covington’s Abbey Reynolds found an open spot to place the ball against the Fairlawn defense for the game-winning point – 25-23.
Covington, who improves its record to 17-8 on the season, will face the winner of #2 seed Fort Loramie and #9 seed Franklin Monroe on Saturday at Troy. The game is scheduled for 5:00pm.
Covington Stats:
Taylor Kirker – 5 aces, 4 kills, 39 assists, 3 digs.
Nigella Reck – 12 kills, 1 assist, 8 digs.
Hailey Naff – 6 kills, 2 digs
Carlie Besecker – 2 aces, 12 kills, 1 block assist, 17 digs
Kearsten Wiggins – 3 kills, 1 block assist, 8 digs
Reaghan Lemp – 7 digs
Lauren York – 1 ace, 7 digs
Abbey Reynolds – 9 kills, 2 solo blocks, 3 digs
