Long-time rivals Miami Trace and McClain opened the Frontier Athletic Conference portion of the 2022 of the volleyball schedule with a match at Miami Trace High School Tuesday, Aug. 30.
Miami Trace won the varsity match in three sets, 25-12, 26-24 and 25-16.
For Miami Trace, Sophia Parsons had 10 kills and three solo blocks.
Addyson Butts had 10 kills and three solo blocks and McKinley Kelley had five kills.
Mary Pfeifer had five ace serves.
Miami Trace is now 3-1 overall, 1-0 in the FAC has a match with Hillsboro Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Miami Trace won the j-v match, 25-22, 17-25, 25-12. Miami Trace is 2-2 overall, 1-0 in the FAC.
“I think we’re still a little young,” McClain head coach Taylor Alsop, now in her sixth season, said. “I do have a few returners. I only have about three girls who played full-time varsity last year for me.
“We’re kinda young and we’re working out some kinks,” Alsop said. “We’re trying to figure out where we need to place the ball, where we need to have our passers.
“I think the second set was our best set and if we can play like that every game and continue our momentum and not get down on ourselves, I think we’ll be great,” Alsop said.
“I really think the next time we play them, it’ll be a tough match,” Alsop said. “I’ll be excited to see them again.”
McClain (1-3 overall, 0-1 FAC) hosts defending FAC champions Chillicothe Thursday.
“I think one of the differences was what Taylor and I were talking about,” Miami Trace head coach Doug Mace said. “She’s kind of young. She’s got several sophomores and some juniors out there playing and we’re senior heavy.
“In that second game, especially when it was really close, that was probably the difference,” Mace said. “(At one point) I looked at Mary (Pfeifer), she was about to serve, and I said, ‘alright, Mary. Be a senior.’ We didn’t get real nervous at crunch time.
“McClain played a really nice match,” Mace said. “Their serving was really good. In the first game, I just think it was because they were at our place. We have a little bit of size along the front row. I think that was a little intimidating for them. They settled down in the second and third game and played pretty well.
“As far as the league goes, I think it’s a lot more balanced this year,” Mace said. “For us, I think it was our seniors who made the difference tonight.”
