United rallies for win

By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SALEM -- In a marathon volleyball match which lasted more than 11/2 hours, defending district champion United held off South Range 5-15, 15-13, 15-9 in a Division III sectional tournament match at Salem High gymnasium Thursday.
The fourth-seeded Golden Eagles (18-4), playing for a return trip to the state tournament, will face top-seeded Springfield Monday at 7 p.m. in a district semifinal.
In the early going, it looked like South Range (18-4) would be the one advancing as the Raiders quickly moved out to a 7-1 lead, before United fought back 7-4 on serves by Tonya Beaumont.
Good net play: United then scored only one point in its final nine possessions, as South Range used good play around the net by Jodi James and Tracey Toy to put the game away, 15-5.
The Golden Eagles again had trouble scoring in bunches in the second game, as they went 20 possessions before scoring more then one point per try.
Down 14-9, South Range got a pair of aces from Anna Waldele and a spike from James to close it to 14-12.
Regrouped: Following a volley, the Raiders regained the serve and another kill from James made it 14-13. United regrouped to come away with a 15-13 win.
"Even into the middle of the second game, I though we were in control," said South Range coach T.J. Irons.
With South Range ahead 8-4 in the deciding game, United came up with a point on three straight possessions, narrowing it to 8-7.
The Golden Eagles took charge, and behind a spike Mandy Clapsaddle and an ace from Beaumont were in control 10-8.
Clinched win: South Range made it 10-9, but United ran off the final five points to clinch the victory.
"Holly cow! I hate those type of matches," said United coach Billina Donaldson. "But once you get to this point in the tournament it's never easy.
"Everyone who has reached this point deserves to be here so you just have to win game at a time, one point at a time."
Leaders: Clapsaddle led the Golden Eagles with 24 kills and 15 spikes. Beaumont had 44 assists and 90 sets. Kelly Powell and Alexis Thomas had 14 and 13 digs respectively and Sara Hotchkiss contributed nine blocks.
James collected 14 kills for South Range, while Weldele had 10 points, 14 assists and seven kills. Crystal Schuler added nine points and seven kills.
"When it came down to crunch time, we lost the momentum and United played just a little better," said Irons.