After the final point of the fifth set, the North Adams Lady Devils celebrate their five-set victory over the Peebles Lady Indians on September 28 in Peebles. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

After the final point of the fifth set, the North Adams Lady Devils celebrate their five-set victory over the Peebles Lady Indians on September 28 in Peebles. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>The action was intense at the net for the entire match as the North Adams Lady Devils and the Peebles Lady Indians met at PHS on September 28 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

The action was intense at the net for the entire match as the North Adams Lady Devils and the Peebles Lady Indians met at PHS on September 28 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It’s the time of the fall seasons where some match ups will decide conference standings and that was the case last Thursday night at Peebles High School. The sport was volleyball, and the match up was the visiting North Adams Lady Devils, who came into the match with a perfect 8-0 mark in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, and the host Peebles Lady Indians, who stood 8-1 in conference play, their only SHAC loss coming earlier in the week to Fairfield. A win could have put the Lady Indians into a first place tie in the SHAC’s big school division, while North Adams was looking to open up a two-game advantage.

With that kind of set up, nothing short of an instant classic could be expected, and that is what the boisterous crowd on hand was treated to as two very solid volleyball squads went blow for blow for the full five sets with numerous momentum swings and plenty of spectacular plays on both sides. When all the excitement had died away, it was the Lady Devils exhaling and enjoying an incredible five-set win, taking down the Lady Indians 25-22, 12-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-10.

“This puts us two games up in the SHAC, but we still have four to go,” said North Adams head coach Katie Ragan after the win. “Two games up with four to go is a pretty good feeling. Our team really persevered tonight because we were forced into playing a lot of freshmen and we are down to 12 girls and trying to count those JV quarters. Coach (Rob) Meade is really good at keeping those younger girls calmed down and ready.”

“But I’m really proud of my team because they pulled it together, not just the younger kids but our older kids showed great leadership in talking and keeping the young girls focused, and we made plays when we needed to make plays. I thought our blocking was good all night, but especially in that fifth set. You never know who might get the points for us on any given night, our girls compliment each other so well.”

Coach Ragan and her teams have been the gold standard in SHAC volleyball for many years now and many teams have tried to topple them from their throne and that was the task of the Lady Indians coming into Thursday night. The theme of the night was established in the first set, with the two teams going back and forth at each other and neither able to establish any substantial advantage. The first gap in the first set came when North Adams’ Aulbrea Meade dealt out a couple of service aces that helped the visitors open up a 16-9 lead. The lead stayed in that range until Peebles’ Payton Johnson tallied four consecutive service points to pull her team within 20-18.

On the strength of a Natalie Ragan kill the next three points went to North Adams, before Peebles grabbed four of the next five to slice the North Adams lead to 24-22, but on the next side out a Peebles return landed in the net, giving the Lady Devils the opening set 25-22.

The second set began as a tight one, but didn’t end that way. The Lady Indians went up quick 6-1 behind a trio of service aces from Caydence Carroll, but the Lady Devils rallied to tie the set at seven with Kirsten Campbell serving aided by kills from Katelynn Boerger and Paige Evans. Right back came the home tea, going up 15-8with Johnson and Abigail Smalley at the serve. This time the Peebles girls weren’t giving up the lead, getting three service aces from Baylie Johnson to open up a 22-10 advantage, and they held on to take the second set 25-12.

The third set of the match may have been the most exciting of the five, both teams looking to take that one-set advantage in the match and they both played like they realized what was on the line. As the third set progressed, neither side could gain much of an edge, putting together 10 ties and 10 lead changes. The breakthrough that decided the set came when the Lady Indians held a 20-17 lead. At that point, North Adams took control with Evans up to serve, where she reeled off six consecutive points to give her team the third set 25-20 and the all-important 2-1 lead in the match.

Now with their proverbial backs to the wall, the Lady Indians had to have set four to stay alive and the set was another tension-filled affair, the Lady Devils going up 3-0 early, Peebles getting the next three points, and the first distance going top North Adams at 10-6 after an Addison Shupert kill. A trio of service points from senior Kennedy Dick pulled the home team to within 12-11 and Peebles finally pulled even at 16 on a service point from Angel Gray. The two teams traded points over the next few, again ending up even at 20 after Shupert service ace, but after a North Adams service error gave the ball back to the home side, the Lady Indians took full advantage, Four straight service points from a very fired-up Kennedy Dick gave her team the 25-20 fourth set triumph, setting up the decisive fifth set to decide the match.

The first blows of the fifth set were landed by the Lady Devils, who went up 5-0 with Evans at the service line. Peebles battled back to within 5-4, but the next four went to North Adams with Meade serving and Boerger controlling the net. That lead vanished quickly on the strength of the bullet serves of Peebles’ Carroll that resulted in a 9-9 deadlock, but that was the high point of the final set for the home team.

To finish off the set and the match and with a 22-20 lead, the Lady Devils sent the senior Campbell to the service line and she came up “big” reeling off three consecutive aces to give her team the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.

The winners were led by Aulbrea Meade and Katelynn Boerger, who downed 1 and 11 kills respeectively. Ragan also contribured 33 assist and digs, The Lady Devils were down a starter going ina nd lost another starter, Elizabeth Raines, in the first set, but got credibel contributions from reserves Ava and Emma Pistole, plus Addison Shupert and Morgan Wheeler.

Peebles was paced by 16 kills from Caydence Carroll , with Payton Johnson adding 8 and Angel Gray 6. Setter Kennedy Dick distributed 13 assists while adding a hustling 23 digs.

The win improved the Lady Devils to 12-3 overall, 9-0 in conference action, while Peebles fell to 11-6, 8-2 in the SHAC. For those fans looking ahead, the two teams will meet again on Friday, October 13 in Seaman in the last scheduled regular season game for both teams.

In JV action last week, Pebbles put on a furious third set rally to down the JV Lady Devils, 25-16, 19-25, 25-23.