The Seymour volleyball team got off to a great start toward picking up its third Hoosier Hills Conference win of the season Thursday night.

The Owls won the first two sets 25-19, 25-16 before watching New Albany rally to win 25-17, 25-23, 16-14.

“We’re just very inconsistent right now,” Owls Coach Angie Lucas said. “I’m not sure exactly why our play is as inconsistent as it is. On the first two sets we served aggressive, we passed well, we hit well, but in the last three that part or our game went away, and I don’t understand why we can’t carry that over.”

Abby Otte served the Owls to a 7-0 lead in the first set. Seymour was up 14-8 midway through the set when the Bulldogs went on a 6-1 run to close to 15-14.

Seymour led 23-18 late before Anna Fish tipped over the New Albany defense for a point, and the Bulldogs committed a passing error for the set point.

The Owls found themselves down 6-1 in the second set before pulling even at 8-8 on a kill by Jamie Bobb.

The score was also tied at 12-12 before back-to-back kills by Greer Henry put the Owls on top for good. Seymour closed the set on a 4-0 run.

Otte again served the Owls into a 4-0 lead at the beginning of the third set. The momentum then went to New Albany, which took an 11-7 lead.

A kill by Zoe Williams left the Owls trailing 13-11 before New Albany moved on top 18-12.

The fourth set was knotted at 6-6 before the Bulldogs used a 6-2 burst to lead 12-8.

A kill by Henry tied the score at 23-23 before the Bulldogs scored the final two points.

The fifth set was close all the way with eight ties, the last one at 14-14 on a kill by Henry.

The Owls missed two serves late in this set and missed 12 serves for the match.

“Our serving killed us,” Lucas said. “I felt blocking was really poor tonight. We only had maybe three blocks and that is not where it needs to be. That is something we are going to work on.”

Otte topped the Owls in aces with six and Bobb had three.

Henry was 30-34-17 and Fish was 21-23-8 in attacks. Fish had 27 assists and Bobb had 19 digs.

Lucas said lack of communication was a key factor.

“You had kids running into one-another. It was not the performance I was hoping for,” she said. “It was a conference match and when you have a conference team down 2-0 you can’t let them come back. That hurts a little.”

The Owls were without junior Norah Campbell who was out with an injury.

“She’s a leader in our back row,” Lucas said. “We are learning to adjust without her right now. Hopefully she will be back in a week or so.”

The Owls (15-11) will host Brownstown Central Tuesday night. Seymour is 2-3 in the HHC with one conference match remaining, Oct. 8 at Bedford North Lawrence.

New Albany 3, Seymour 2

New Albany def. Seymour 19-25, 16-25, 25-17, 25-23, 16-14

Serve-Attempt-Aces

Serving: Jamie Bobb 13-14-3, Abby Otte 12-16-6, team 67-79-13

Attempts-Total-Kills

Hitting: Anna Fish 21-23-8, Greer Henry 30-34-17, Zoe Williams 9-10-7, team 106-119-46

Assists: Anna Fish 27.

Digs: Jamie Bobb 19.

Junior Varsity

Seymour 2, New Albany 1

Seymour def. New Albany 22-25, 26-24, 15-11

Serving: Rose Kruse 23-24-4, Rachel Stanfield 9-9-1, team 47-62-5

Attacking: Lolah Polynice-Castro 19-21-5, Zohie Lynch 18-21-11, Rachel Stanfield 15-19-6, team 69-83-28

Assists: Kennady Hardman 22.

Digs: Rose Kruse 9.

Freshmen

New Albany 2, Seymour 1

New Albany def. Seymour 25-18, 23-25, 15-5