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Gahanna scores big win over Darby By Jim Jicha April 9, 2004
"It's a big win for us". So said Gahanna Lincoln Coach Mike Sage after his Lions tripped up visiting Hilliard Darby last night 25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15. The Lions played with a lot of heart and second effort, and with Darby middle hitter Ben Willford sidelined for most of the match, the Lions pretty much controlled the tempo. Darby got on the scoreboard before the whistle due a uniform number mixup by the Lions and went up 2-0 on a cross court kill by Kyle Sebastian. But AJ Leopard followed with a block on Willford and Jason O'Hara served up seven points with Leopard contributing three more blocks. After that the teams traded points with Gahanna's lead ranging from five to nine. Leopard started the scoring in game two with another block and Ben Bressler followed with a kill. After Darby tied it at 2-2 on a Sebastian kill, the Lions took the lead for good thanks to three Darby miscues and a block and a tip into a hole by Leopard. The teams exchanged tallies and Darby closed to 12-10 with Jason Martin scoring two solid kills. But O'Hara served up five more points on Darby mistakes and after Leopard demolished an overpass to make it 18-10, the Panthers never recovered. In game three Darby began clicking with Martin, Sebastian and Nick Persons leading the spiking. With Darby up 10-9 Persons nailed a kill down the line and Sebastian served six points to up the lead to 17-9. During the run setter Brandon Mitchell made a nice dump leading to a four hit call on the Lions. The Panthers extended their lead to 21-11, but Gahanna wasn't finished as they rallied to 21-16 on kills from Landon Bentz and Travis Coner. An impressive smash by Martin interrupted things, but the Lions closed to 22-21 with Bentz contributing another kill. However, Martin put up a big block on Bentz, Mitchell served an ace and, after a service error, Martin nailed a cross court spike that was blocked out of bounds for the winning point. Gahanna took control again in game four. Things started evenly but at 3-3 the Lions scored three straight and were never headed. When Darby closed to 10-7 O'Hara served another run fueled by a kill from Bressler and blocks by Kyle Murray and Leopard. Darby simply could not get untracked as the Lions put the match away. Throughout the match Gahanna played with a lot of intensity, and Coach Sage cited that as a big reason they prevailed. The Lions scored several points on long hits and other errors by the Panthers. But many heads up plays by Gahanna kept balls alive in the first place or led to errors by their opponents. During the the Lions' mid-game run in game four, Bressler and Coner teamed up on instant reaction digs to get a Panther block back over the net and turn a potential Darby point into a Gahanna score when the return volley hit the pole. That play was preceded by a lift call on Hilliard caused by a stuff block from Leopard. This was Gahanna's first win over Darby in a long time and the team was excited afterward. So was Sage who gave kudos to his team saying "this was the best we've played this season, we played to our level and I'm proud of them".
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