
BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
TROY — The hottest team in the NTL just went supernova on Tuesday as Troy swept Towanda, 3-0, in NTL volleyball action to keep their playoff hopes alive on Tuesday.
The win is Troy's fourth straight as they make a playoff push.
"It was really nice knowing that the girls have been working so hard for this," said Troy coach Abby Herman-Deitrick. "They played really well, and, defensively, we couldn't have done much better that what we did tonight."
With the win it sets up a do-or-die contest at league champs, Wellsboro, on Thursday. If they win, they're in, if they lose, they're out.
"The girls are playing really good at the moment," Herman-Deitrick said. "We're going to play our game. We're not going to do anything special except the things we have been doing, and the things that have been working for us."
The Trojans won the sets 25-17, 25-23, and 25-10.
In the first set they jumped out to an 11-2 lead, though saw Towanda cut it to 21-16. From that point, though, the Trojans out scored them 4-1 to get the first game win.
"Volleyball is all about momentum, and definitely starting off the first set as strong as we did pretty much set the tone for the whole match."
It was Towanda leading for much of the second set, building an 8-4 advantage early, then going up by as much as 17-10.
However, Troy out scored them 15-6 the rest of the way, taking their first lead at 21-20. Towanda tied it at 21-21, but after Troy went up 22-21 they never gave up the lead again.
"They turned some tough plays into some really good momentum to push themselves forward," Herman-Deitrick said. "It's nice that you can come out on top of the set even being down by seven points."
Alexa Lawrence had 18 digs, six kills, and two aces for Troy as Haidyn Watson had eight kills, and eight digs.
Nya Watson notched 22 assists, one ace, and 10 digs, with Alli Bailey getting 15 digs, and two assists.
Bella Wood had six kills and three blocks, as Evelyn Schonher added four kills, and one dig.
Gracie Brown had two kills, one ace, six digs, and a block while Liana Lyon had two aces with a dig.
For Towanda Addison Barrett had seven kills, and five blocks, as Karis Flynn finished with 14 digs, five kills, six points, one ace, one block, and eight assists.
Lariah Long notched nine digs, one kill, one block, two points, and an ace, as Kendall Kellogg had six points, eight digs, and two kills.
Brycen Vargason notched 13 digs, four points, and an ace, with Ali Hollett getting four points, an ace, two digs, and four assists.
Kylee Barnes finished with four kills, and four blocks, while London Decker had two blocks, one kill, and one dig.
In the first set Watson served up five straight points for a 5-0 Troy lead. The would out score the Knights 6-2 over the next eight points to take a 9- point lead with Watson and Schonher both getting kills.
The teams went back and forth as a Wood block kept Troy up 13-5.
A Flynn push kill, though, started the Towanda rally, and they seemed to get momentum on their side after pulling out an exceptionally long volley for a 15-9 score.
A Decker block made it 17-13, but Troy struck back. After a Knight service error Lyon got an ace, followed by back to back kills from Lawrence and Wood made it 21-13.
Three straight Black Knight points made it a 5-point match but down the stretch Troy took advantage of Towanda errors to get the win.
The second set was back and forth early until Towanda rattled off four straight points for the 7-3 lead behind back to back Barrett blocks.
Troy was playing catch-up from there, cutting it to 8-6 but then watching as the Knights extended the lead to 13-7 behind a Barnes kill and block.
Three straight Trojan points made it 13-10 but the next four went to Towanda as they re-asserted themselves with a 17-10 advantage behind a Kellogg kill.
A Wood kill started the Troy rally with a Watson kill making it 17-12.
The Trojans chipped away as they out scored Towanda 7-2 over the next nine points to make it 19-all.
A Hannah Crawford kill made it 20-19 Towanda, but a Schonher attack tied things back up at 20-20.
Wood would get a block to give the Trojans their first lead, but a Troy service error saw it go back to a tie.
Lawrence would get a kill on the next point for a 22-21 lead, followed by a Towanda passing error putting the Trojans up by two.
A Flynn kill kept the Knights in the contest, the two teams traded three straight errors down the stretch for the 2-point Troy win.
In the third set Troy jumped out to a 5-0 lead, while Towanda cut it to 6-4. From there, though, Troy out scored them 19-6 to pull away for the win.
Troy eked out the JV match, too, with Towanda winning the first set 25-20, followed by Troy taking the next two, 25-21, and 15-8.
For Troy Mya McClure had six kills, 13 assists, two aces, and nine digs, as Leah Machmer finished with 10 digs, five kills, and three aces.
Mya Monro had five kills, with four digs, as Addy Theodorakos finished with seven digs, three kills, one assist, and an ace.
Madison Morgan had two kills, three assists, one ace, and eight digs.
Alexis Cayer had five digs, as Jazmyn Frisbie finished with one kill, one assist, and three digs.
Gracie Feldmeier had seven digs, two aces, and one assist, and Sarah Caudil had one kill, and one dig.
Emma Space had nine kills, three blocks, six points, and four digs for Towanda as Addy Jankowsky notched five kills, 11 digs, seven points, four aces, and one assist.
Addison Aquilio had five digs, eight assists, six points, and one ace, while Samantha Hartigan added 13 digs, and six points.
Sadie Overpeck notched nine digs, one kill, and three points, as Maddy Nash had five digs, two kills, and three points.
Ailyn Dulaney added four digs with a point, and Emma Bride had two kills.
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING