Sophomore Aubrey Sturgill and the Peebles Lady Indians took a straight set loss to Fayetteville on September 16. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The 2025 version of Peebles Indians varsity volleyball stood with an overall record of 4-9 after a September 16 straight set loss on the road at Fayetteville. The four wins for the Lady Indians have come over West Union, Manchester, New Boston and Whiteoak, three of those being victories in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
At Fayetteville, the Lady Indians fell behind 18-10 in the first set but rallied with Amryn Carroll at the serve to pull within 19-14. The Lady Rockets responded with four consecutive points, two of them coming on Christina Murphy kills to extend their advantage and a Darcie Reeves kill closed the door on a 25-15 first set win for the home side.
The second set began much tighter with a Jillian Bailey kill helping Peebles forge a 6-6 deadlock. Fayetteville responded with a 6-4 run to take the lead but the Lady Indians had an answer with Aiva Brumley serving five points, aided by a trio of Ella Richards kills, and the visitors taking a 16-12 lead. Unfortunately for Peebles, they could not sustain the momentum. The Lady Rockets came from behind using kills by Tegan Combs and Ava Corsmeier to finally reclaim the lead at 21-20. The two teams then battled at the net, exchanging kill after kill, with a Richards kill sending the set in to volleyball overtime tied at 24. The tie didn’t last long as Fayetteville got the next two points to win the set 26-24 and go up 2-0 in the match.
With their backs to the wall, the Lady Indians gamely put up a fight in the third set, keeping it close behind a pair of Kendall Myers service aces and kills from Carroll and Bailey. Neither team led by more than two points until the Lady Rockets got a series of service points from Scarlett Crawford to take an 18-14 advantage. After Peebles got a kill from Bailey, the home team got five of the next six scores to lead 23-16. After a Richards kill temporarily kept the Lady Indians alive, kills by Combs and Crawford finished off the third set, a 25-18 Fayetteville win, and the match by a 3-0 count.
The Lady Indians were back in conference play on September 18 , hosting Eastern Brown but no score had yet been reported on that match as of press time. On Monday, September 22 Peebles traveled to Northwest for a non-conference match up with the Lady Mohawks, then hosted the Fairfield Lady Lions in SHAC action on Tuesday, September 23.
