Vikings notch key BVC win over L-B

FINDLAY – For a while in Tuesday's Blanchard Valley Conference showdown between Leipsic and Liberty-Benton, it looked like the Vikings were struggling a bit. Leipsic, the No. 2 ranked team in Division VII, 15-1 on the season and 7-0 in the conference, had topped the Eagles, 25-23 in the first set. In the second set, Leipsic had an 18-13 lead, only to see L-B rally. Emelia Kin slammed a kill to give the Eagles a 29-27 win. Now, in the third set, the Vikings were down again. A kill by Megan Gerken had broken a 4-4 tie, and L-B had gone on to score the next three points for an 8-4 advantage. To some teams, this might have been troubling. But the Vikings – and their coach Brent Newell – appeared unfazed. "I don't think we were all that concerned because we knew that we could play better than what we were doing," Newell said. "We usually play better as the day goes on." And, as it happened, Leipsic started to play better. More specifically, Danaysia Danzy took over. The Vikings standout hitter finished with 26 kills, nine digs and four aces – she had three straight unreturned serves in the third set – and Leipsic pulled out a 25-16 and 25-20 win to take the match 3-1. "I just think that everybody needed to communicate more," Danzy said afterward. "I think that we did a better job of that in the third set. We really wanted to beat L-B, so that helped. Everybody had a lot of good communication. We were so pumped." Danzy – and the Vikings in general – appeared to turn things up in the latter half of Set 4. After a service error by L-B gave Leipsic a 13-12 advantage, Danzy slammed the first of five kills in a 9-3 Viking run. "I think the key turning point is, we stopped tipping, we started hitting the ball, being more aggressive," Newell said. "That's what it takes to score points on a good team like that." In Set 4, Leipsic was down again, this time by scores of 14-10 and 15-11. But the Vikings rallied again, this time with the help of aces by Jaelynn Siefer and Alyssa Campbell. Siefer served five aces to go with 14 digs, while Campbell had two aces and 11 digs in the match. "What we struggled with, but what Leipsic was really, really strong at, is they have multiple really strong servers," said Liberty-Benton coach Julie Todd, whose team slipped to 13-5, 7-1 in the BVC. "That just took us out of our game. When we did have a good pass, right to our setter, good things happened for us, but they would just go on those runs where we were passing it way off the net and having to scramble." For Leipsic, Karmyn Brough dished out 43 assists to go with nine digs and two aces. Morgan Valdez slammed 10 kills and three blocks and Kya Brand lined 10 kills while coming up with 13 digs. Sidney Apple added seven kills. Leipsic is now the only team in the BVC without a league loss. It has two conference matches remaining, against McComb and Arlington. "We're in the driver's seat, but that doesn't mean that we've won it yet," Newell said. "We're gonna stay focused here, and we're not gonna take McComb and Arlington lightly." For L-B, Kin finished with 12 kills and seven blocks, while Corra Dehart had 12 kills and four blocks. Gerken added six blocks, while Elise Brzezinski had six kills. Liberty-Benton's Ally Hocanson registered three blocks while handing out 33 assists and Maddie Amstutz served three aces to go with 21 digs. Sadie Barnes added eight kills and 11 digs for the Eagles. Todd said facing Leipsic was going to be a big test. "I'm just so proud of my team for battling, because we were down by a lot (in Set 2)," Todd said. "I think it's always such a strong rivalry. "It only makes us stronger, playing tough competition like this."