Focus up: Owls put together complete match in win

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Coach Angie Lucas said she was pleased with the performance of her Seymour volleyball team after a 25-10, 25-10, 25-9 win against Scottsburg on Thursday in Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

“I thought we served really well, and I thought our blocks did a really nice job tonight, so we kind of controlled the match. It was very good, no letdowns,” Lucas said.

The Owls built early leads in all three sets.

Addie Rudge’s second kill in the first set gave the Owls a 5-1 lead. Lauren Fleetwood served and ace, and followed up with a kill that put Seymour up 15-3. Another ace by Rudge set the score 18-6, and set point came on an attacking error by the Warriors.

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In the second set the Owls opened a 6-2 lead.

After the Warriors made it 6-4, the Owls stepped up their intensity as Jessica Blevins had a kill, Makenna Fee had two kills, Fleetwood served another ace and Rudge had a kill for an 11-4 advantage.

The Owls had two more 5-0 runs before Hannah Sipe had a block, Abby Schmidt a tip, and Rudge a kill for set point.

In the third set, the Owls held a 10-2 lead before going on a 10-2 surge for a 20-4 lead. Rudge had three kills and served an ace, and Fleetwood had a kill and an ace during the rally.

Blevins had a kill for match point and was 11-11-8 in attacks for the night, while Rudge was 25-26-11, and the team was 90-98-38.

Seymour served nine aces with Fleetwood and Rudge serving three each. The team was 72-for-77 with nine aces.

Lucas credited the high level of play to the serving.

“I felt like our serving was very aggressive, and then when we lost our serves we didn’t let them rip off four or five points like we have in the past,” she said. “We played under control tonight. We had good ball control. Defensively, we did a nice job in the back row and it allowed Makenna to get some experience setting. It was a good night to try different things.”

The longest rallies the Warriors managed was three points once in the first set, two points twice in the second set, and back-to-back points once in the third set.

Lucas said, during practice, she has told the Owls to stay focused for an entire match.

“We’ve been working on that because we know we’re young and we have inexperienced kids out there. We do not want to drop a level in intensity,” she said. “Playing the teams on our schedule helps get us prepared for the sectional, and this is what it’s all about. We’re getting better and that’s exciting.”

Sharing varsity playing time for the Owls are four seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and a freshman.

“We tell the girls it doesn’t matter who is on the other side, we’re still going to play Seymour volleyball,” Lucas said. “It’s important that we do the things that we work on in practice. It’s good to see that improvement. That makes coaches happy.

“They have worked hard the past few weeks. We have had good competition. We have played some really good teams and they have battled against them. Tonight they came out and took care of business and I was very happy the way they played.”

The Owls (8-6) will play in in the Jeffersonville Invitational on Saturday.

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