Any coach will tell you the importance of entering the postseason with momentum.
In Bradford’s case, the Lady Owls couldn’t have gotten a bigger dose of it than with their dramatic victory over Kane on Thursday night to close the regular season.
Bradford put together a hard-fought, comeback effort to defeat the Lady Wolves in five sets (25-27, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 15-9) and enter the District 9 playoffs at 8-8.
Kane (13-3) is one of the top volleyball programs in D-9, and defeated the Lady Owls in five sets earlier this season which made Thursday’s result all the more sweeter for Steve Daniels and his girls.
“Regular season or anytime you get to play a quality opponent and go toe-to-toe from start to finish with them is great,” the first-year head coach said. “I don’t care if it’s Senior Night, “Dig Pink” or a scrimmage on the road, it’s fun volleyball.”
It was a back-and-forth match from the opening volley. Neither team led by more than six points at any point in the match with numerous lead changes and ties in every set.
The first set itself saw six lead changes and four ties before Kane finally won it 27-25.
The two teams each took one of the next two sets, with the Owls rallying from a 19-13 hole in the second and Kane taking the final points after going down 22-20 in the third.
Although Kane looked like it had all the momentum after that third-set rally, the Lady Owls simply wouldn’t go away.
Bradford never trailed in the fourth set and went on a 10-4 run to close it and push the match to a deciding fifth game.
“Defense was all over the place, especially in the fourth game,” Daniels said. “I kept telling them that offense was scoring the points, but defense was winning the points. When you go from having your setter all the way back in the one position in about 20 feet until the time she doesn’t have to move her feet, your offense works in an entirely different way.”
And although it was tied 2-2 following that fourth set, the Owls just looked like the hungrier team in the final set.
Bradford picked up right where it left off, jumping out to a 10-5 lead and shut the door on any comeback attempt with solid serving and defense to come away with a 15-9 win.
“It feels great,” Daniels said. “I mean (the girls) feel a whole lot better than I do, but it feels great.”
The Owls are now 2-4 in five-set matches on their home court this season, but Daniels was pleased with how his girls fought once again on Thursday — especially after going down two sets to one to one of the best teams they’ve faced all year.
“We’ve gone five nine or ten times now and the effort has never gone down from 100 percent,” he said.
Laney Kahle led the Owls with 36 assists in the game, while Alexis Huber (22 kills) and Ashton Himes (11 kills) provided the offense.
Thursday night also marked the final home match for Bradford seniors Brittany Rounsville, Nikki Sayers Morgan Tyger, Himes and Huber.
That group of girls was not only coached by Daniels when he was an assistant with the Owls four seasons ago, but were his leaders this year in his first season in charge.
“They were my last freshman class here and they’ll be my first senior class,” he said. “They were a good group for me to come in on and I say that because they understand what I want. A lot of times they aren’t going to give it to me, but they are going to put forth 100 percent effort.”
Thursday’s result did nothing to alter Bradford’s postseason status, as the Lady Owls are already locked in as the third seed in the Class AAA playoffs with a date against Punxsutawney next Wednesday.
The winner of that match gets top-seeded DuBois on Saturday.
The Lady Owls swept the Chucks in their last meeting earlier this month, leaving Daniels with some confidence heading into the semifinal.
“We have to beat Punxsy and if we can get past Wednesday, we have a shot,” he said. “We are 0-3 against DuBois but every single time we keep gaining on them. I do think we have a shot.”
