ATLANTA – LOVB Atlanta finished with a flourish to cap a fabulous Saturday night of League One Volleyball with a four-set victory over LOVB Austin.
Atlanta, which won a 25-22, 24-26, 25-15, 27-25 slugfest, not only bounced back from a reverse-sweep defeat to LOVB Houston the night before, it rebuilt its lead to three games atop the standings.
In the first match in the Gateway Center Arena, suddenly streaking LOVB Madison took advantage of a fatigued Houston team to come away with a 19-25, 28-26, 28-26 25-16 win for its third victory in a row.
The day’s action left Atlanta 9-2 with five regular-season matches remaining, all on the road. Houston (6-5) stayed in second place, a half-game up on idle LOVB Salt Lake (5-6). Austin (4-6) has the same record as idle Omaha, and Madison (4-7) is within striking distance of second place after rebounding from an eight-match losing streak.
Speaking of a bounce back, Atlanta had won eight regular-season matches in a row before that agonizing defeat to Houston on Friday.
Atlanta vs. Austin stats | LOVB Austin roster | LOVB Atlanta roster
"It's not easy to play two games in a row, physically or mentally, and it was a real emotional win for us. I think you could see that," said Madi Bugg, who took on full-time setting duties for Atlanta in both matches with Rachel Fairbanks sidelined due to injury. "It was definitely not our prettiest volleyball, but it speaks to the strength of our team and the conviction that we have in our goal."
Coach Paulo Coco agreed.
"It's very important. It means a lot because it was a difficult loss," he said.
Atlanta controlled a first set in which the home team hit .176 and Austin hit .057. Austin won a grueling second set after trailing 23-17 and then 24-20. Austin finished with a 6-0 run, fueled by three of Leah Hardeman's four kills. At the end of the second set, Austin was hitting .057 and Atlanta .056. Blocking was no small factor as Austin finished the match with 13 blocks and Atlanta 14.
Atlanta dominated the third set and then rallied to win the fourth. Austin was ahead 18-21 and 21-23 before Atlanta tied it at 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25. The break came on a kill by Danielle Cuttino and then a vicious match-ending swing by Kelsey Cook.
"It was a very good win," Coco said, "especially to see our team fight and show a very good attitude. We kept fighting."
Atlanta, which ended up hitting .150, got 16 kills from Cuttino, who added three aces, two blocks and eight digs. McKenzie Adams had 14 kills, an ace, a block and 13 digs. Tia Jimerson had four kills, three aces, six blocks and a dig and Kelsey finished with seven kills, three blocks, 14 digs and two assists.
Bugg had a kill, 12 digs and 40 assists.
"Madi has really good knowledge of the game, so it's easy for her to come in and see what the other side is doing and reverse the flow. And she's just a great leader," Jimerson said. "She always gives good feedback and has great energy."
Libero Piyanut Pannoy had 12 digs and an assist.
Atlanta had eight aces and six serving errors. Austin, which had two aces and also eight errors, finished with a .114 hitting percentage.
Logan Eggleston led with 15 kills, an ace, four blocks, 14 digs and two assists. Chiaka Ogbogu had 14 kills while hitting .440, two blocks and a dig. Molly McCage had nine kills, four blocks and three digs, and Madisen Skinner had nine kills to go with 11 digs.
"There are mixed emotions in a match like this," Austin coach Chris McGown said. "We did some really good things ... but I see areas where we have some work in front of us."
Houston started strong in the opener, but admittedly ran out of gas.
Madison vs. Houston stats | LOVB Madison roster | LOVB Houston roster
"The back-to-back matches are tough physically and mentally and coming off a reverse sweep yesterday, it's not easy to find it every single day, especially when you're tired," Madi Kingdon Rishel said. "We gave a lot tonight of what we were able to give and fought, but some days it's not enough."
Madison, which had not played in a week, was thrilled to now be riding a three-match winning streak.
"I'm really proud of our girls," coach Matt Fuerbringer said. "I don't think it was our best match as far as how we played on the court, but we're starting to believe and are really playing together and that's a key. We don't have to be perfect all the time. We have to play together and now we're proving to ourselves that we can make plays in the clutch."
Annie Drews Schumacher led Madison with 18 kills, two aces, eight digs and an assist. Claire Chaussee had 14 kills, two blocks and 14 digs. Sarah Franklin had 10 kills, two aces, a block, 15 digs and two assists. The middles, Anna Hall and Taylor Sandbothe, had eight kills each. Anna hit .333, had five blocks, five digs and two assists while Sandbothe hit .389 and added three blocks and eight digs.
Setter Lauren Carlini, whose team hit .231, was magnificent on offense with five kills in eight errorless attempts. She had 52 assists and 12 digs.
Madison had four aces and seven serving errors.
Libero Milica Medved, named player of the match, had a season-best 24 digs and four assists.
"I am so happy that we came back after that first set," Milica said. "It wasn't easy. We just kept going."
Jordan Thompson was her usual great self and led Houston with 21 kills, hitting .314. She had 12 digs and an assist. Madi Kingdon Rishel had 13 kills, an ace, 13 digs and an assist. Jess Mruzik had 10 kills, a block, 16 digs and two assists, and Amber Igiede had eight kills while hitting .375 to go with an ace, four blocks and three digs.
Houston hit .191 and had three aces and six errors.
"I want to say thank you to my players. In these two days they did their best. At the end we probably missed some balls in important moments. It's not easy," Houston coach Massimo Barbolini said. "Yesterday we played a great match, and today, except for the fourth set, we were in the match."
The next LOVB match is Thursday, March 13, when LOVB Omaha is at Madison.
Friday, Atlanta plays at Houston and then in Saturday's doubleheader Salt Lake plays Atlanta and Austin plays Houston.
"I think we have a lot to learn from this match," Kingdon Rishel said, "especially going into another double next week of how we can manage playing back-to-back."
