They say volleyball is a game of momentum and that was certainly true in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium Tuesday night where Seymour defeated Columbus North 25-16, 18-25, 26-24, 25-17.

Seymour coach Angie Lucas said it took every ounce of energy the Owls had to win.

“Columbus North is a really good team,” she said. “They worked really hard to improve. They’re going to beat some really good teams. It just makes me so proud that we were able to defend our floor.”

After the teams split the first two sets, North was on the verge of taking a 2-1 lead in game when the Owls put their rally caps on.

North held a 23-16 lead when Jamie Bobb served five straight points to make it a 23-21 score.

After North scored a point, the Owls rallied to score the final five points in the set. An ace by Greer Henry tied the score at 24-all and the set point came on a passing error by the visitors.

The fifth set was tied four times early, the last at 5-5 before Anna Fish produced three straight kills to help her team secure a 9-5 lead.

North rallied to tie the set at 11-11. Seymour led 13-12 before going on a 6-0 run. The closest the Bull Dogs could get was 21-17 before the Owls closed on a 4-0 run with Henry getting a kill for match point.

Fish had six kills in the fifth set and Henry had four kills. For the match Fish was 36-39-13, Henry was 27-30-12 and Emerson Johnson was 20-22-11 with the team 108-119-41.

“I felt Emerson played really well in the middle,” Lucas said. “She was battling against a 6-4 player. She scored against her, which is really exciting for her.”

Lucas said spoke about the end of the third set and the fourth set.

“They made some mistakes. They made some crucial hitting errors, and served a couple long, so their errors were more than ours,” she said. “That’s volleyball. Its momentum, and they lost it.

“Our serving was really aggressive. We got more aces in that fourth set, and that really helped us. The seniors and Anna have really carried us.”

The Owls were 74-79-9 serving with Henry 16-16-4 and Fish was 9-9-2.

Fish talked about the rallies that both teams had.

“Volleyball is a game of momentum. It really showed in the second set. Once we were down, we were down and got in a hole, and it was a hard hole to get back from.”

She said of the rally in the third set, “The pass was there, the set was there. I just had to take a swing at it. Us fighting back like that really shows what we are as a team. We don’t really give up easily.

“Coming back like that definitely builds confidence as a team,” she added. “I would say our first touch in serve receive could always be better. Serve and serve receive is the bread-and-butter of volleyball. If that’s good, we can win a lot of games. Our defense has been solid. It keeps us in games.”

The first set was tied 6-6 when the Owls scored three straight points with Johnson’s kill making it 9-6. The Owls used a 6-0 run to lead 18-10 later in the set, and the set point came on an attacking error by North.

North went on an 8-0 run in the second set to take a 12-5 lead and stayed ahead the rest of that set.

“We just made so many mistakes in the second set, we just got rattled,” Lucas said. “We were throwing arms everywhere, and not controlling the ball like we can. Once we calmed down and got past that then I thought we played very well.”

Norah Campbell had 24 digs and Maggie Braman had 35 assists.

The Owls (2-0) will go to Madison on Saturday.

Varsity: Seymour def. Columbus North 25-16, 18-25, 26-24, 25-17

Seymour serving Anna Fish 9-9-3, Greer Henry 16-16-4, team 74-79-10

Attacks: Fish 36-39-13, Emerson Johnson 20-22-11, Henry 27-30-12, team 108-119-45

Assists: Maggie Braman 35, Norah Campbell 24 digs

Junior varsity: Columbus North def. Seymour 15-14, 25-16

Seymour serving 24-30-01, attacks 25-34-12,

Assists- Kennady Hardman 10, digs- McKenna Bobb 10

Freshmen: Columbus North def. Seymour 25-16, 25-15

Seymour serving: Kenna Bohle 4-5-1, Jazmyne Flores 5-7-2, Kylie Keyes 5-6-1, team 24-31-5

Attacks: Bohle 4-4-2, Sydney Stout 3-3, team 11-14-3.

Assists: Keyes 7