By Matt Zircher
KETTERING – Momentum can be a difficult thing to maintain, especially in volleyball.
Anna found that to be the case at Trent Arena Thursday as, despite leading in each set, the Lady Rockets came out on the short end against the Utica Lady Redskins in the Division 3 regional semifinals, falling 26-24, 25-22, 25-16.
Anna closes out the season with a final record of 16-11 while Utica, who finished seventh in the final state coaches poll, improves to 26-1.
The Lady Rockets came out strong in set one, breaking an early 2-2 tie with four straight points, including a pair of service aces by Emma Meyer. Following a Utica timeout, back-to-back kills from Krista Gehret put Anna in front 8-3.
An Anna service error, though, started the Lady Redskins on their comeback and two straight aces by Emily Londot tied the score at 8. An attack error gave the Lady Rockets a brief lead before Utica answered with four consecutive points to force a timeout.
The Lady Redskins later went up 19-16 on a Londot kill, only to see Anna respond with a 6-2 rally of its own, capped off by a Lexi Wells ace, to regain the advantage at 22-21. A Meyer kill made it 23-22, but Utica turned the tables and went up one on a Londot kill and a Brooke Maxwell ace.
After a Rocket timeout, Gehret tied it at 24 with a kill, but consecutive kills from Londot would give the Lady Redskins the set.
Anna fell behind 8-5 in the second set and later trailed 17-14 before taking advantage of a pair of Utica errors and kills by Meyer and Ashley Landis to go up 18-17. Following an Alyson Londot kill to tie it, Meyer responded with two more kills to give the Lady Rockets the lead back and force the Lady Redskins into a timeout.
But just when it looked like momentum was on Anna’s side, Utica stormed back with four straight points, half coming on a kill and ace from Emily Londot. Anna later closed to within one at 23-22 on a lift call before another Londot kill and a block closed out the set.
Like the first set, Anna came out strong in the final set, going up 8-4 after back-to-back Gehret kills. The Lady Redskins, though, eventually tied the score at 10 on another Londot kill and went in front to stay at 12-11 on a Maxwell ace.
The margin was just 15-13 until Utica closed out the match with a 10-3 run, including the final three points on an Alyson Londot kill and a pair of aces from Carli Conard.
“We broke down in a few areas and that hurt us,” said Anna coach Kelli Zumberger. “We struggled with service receive early and we had a few mistakes on hitting. It seemed like we weren’t able to get things together.
“Utica, and especially Londot, did a good job of making adjustments,” added Zumberger. “We told our girls to track her and we put up a solid double block, but then she started hitting the ball differently and that was hard to control defensively.”
Gehret, in her final high school match, led the Lady Rockets with 18 kills, Kennedey Glover had 11 and Meyer eight.
“Our three seniors made it their goal to get back to the regional finals,” said Zumberger. “Krista has been a three-year starter and she really wanted this.”
