WAPAKONETA – Ottawa Glandorf dropped the first two sets in their Thursday evening Western Buckeye League contest at Wapak but rallied to win the last three sets to post a 3-2 match victory.
Opening WBL play riding a 41-match winning streak and on the heels of four straight titles the Titans will earn the best play from every team they play and no team proved that thought to be more true than Wapak on this evening.
Ottawa Glandorf snagged the first point of the first set but found themselves in a battle with their hosts early as the two teams traded points to a ninth tie of the opening game at 10-10.
Wapak pulled out to a 24-17 lead over the course of the rest of the set before fending off a Titan rally to take a 1-0 lead with a 25-22 victory, their first set win in 32 sets against OG dating back to their last to October 23rd, 2010 when they eventually fell 3-2.
Set two began with a flurry for the Redskins as they continued to harness their momentum by jumping out to a 6-0 lead that forced their blue and gold counterparts into an early timeout.
Although OG rallied back to cut the lead to 6-4 it was the Redskins who were able to control the set and repeatedly push their lead to four before winning 25-21 to take a 2-0 set lead.
Tied as late as 22-22 in the third set and with the Titans facing elimination, the visitors rallied out of a late Wapak timeout and forced a fourth set with a 25-23 win.
Similar to the way Wapak amassed an early lead in the second set the Titans rode a wave of their own momentum to a 12-3 lead and continued to find holes in the Redskin defense on their way to a 25-9 win to force a deciding fifth set tied at 2-2.
In a flash the Redskins utilized their front line duo of Emily Van Horn and Kaleigh Palmer for a 6-2 advantage and an OG timeout. Wapak continued their quick play to amass a match point at 14-9 just moments later.
Ottawa Glandorf reeled off five straight points to tie the set at 14-14 before Wapak reached match point once again at 16-15 before the Titans raced a shot across the net that brought an in the net call against the hosts to tie the match at 16-16.
Consecutive points by OG punctuated by a double block at the net pushed the score to 18-16 and gave the comeback win to the Titans.
“This year, more than ever we have talked about being resilient and responding to difficult situations. I think tonight’s battle shows that hard work is paying off. The girls were resilient, tough, and best of all they were good teammates on and off the court. I’m proud of how this team fought to start off WBL play” said exhausted Titan coach Amber Miller after the contest.
Wapak falls to 1-3, 0-1 on the season and will next be in action on Saturday at 11:15 A.M. when they host Bellefontaine.
OG (3-1, 1-0) has now defeated the Redskins 16 straight times and will be off until Monday evening when they host Tinora at 7:00 P.M. in a non-league tilt at Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium in Ottawa.