'We’re ready for the battle': Ashland tops Madison in sectional volleyball semifinal

Juniors Jenna Hartson, Emma Valentine and sophomore Ava Bond have one thing in common for the Ashland High School volleyball team.

The trio is scrappy and deliberate is their style of play, and it was all on full display Monday night when they helped lead Ashland to a 3-1 Division I sectional semifinal triumph over Madison in Arrow Arena in a Division I sectional semifinal.

It was the third win of the season over Madison (6-17) for Ashland (11-12), which also defeated the Rams twice in Ohio Cardinal Conference play. The Arrows advanced to play at Holland Springfield (16-6) at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a sectional title.

“I was very impressed with our offense; we were efficient on offense,” Ashland coach Jenise Vaughn said. “One of our goals today was to limit our unforced errors to less than or equal to 5%. We did that in sets one (25-7), three (25-11) and four (25-17), so I think that’s really indicative of when we reach that goal we are successful in winning.”

With Ashland holding a 24-16 lead, the Arrows lost the next point but Valentine registered her 23rd dig, the 1,000th of her career. Ashland then closed out the game as senior Elysia Zehner got the last of her game-high 15 kills to end Madison’s hopes.

“It’s probably one of my biggest accomplishments in my career, and it really makes me happy to see my teammates cheer for me, and all the love and support they show for me,” Valentine said. “I try to work my hardest for my teammates, and just for my coaches.”

Hartson ended the night with a whopping 42 assists and had a trio of aces serving. A game ago, the A’s setter also eclipsed the 1,000 career mark for assists.

“It was really important, I was really excited to get that, and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. Seeing how excited they were for me showed how much of a team we are and a family,” said Hartson, who also was one of a number of Ashland players, along with Valentine, Taylor Schmitz, Bond, Haley Mills and Lilly Pool, who served well against Madison. “I think serving really aggressively got them out of system, and I think that really helped us and that was one of our main goals we worked on.”

First-year Madison coach Tricia Bernhard said Ashland’s serving was very tough on her team.

“That’s something we’ve struggled with, our serve-receive through the season,” she affirmed. “We didn’t always hit our spots we were trying to hit, so it just wasn’t our night.”

The Rams did win the second set 25-22 in part behind the strong hitting of junior outside hitter Sara Hoffer, who had seven kills and a pair of blocks to back up Allyson Wigton (12 kills, 11 digs, one ace), Hope Barrett (five kills, 12 digs, block), Kayla Putney (four kills, one ace, two blocks), Cielo Jacobus (eight digs, ace), and Addison Farris (two blocks).

“She did,” said Bernhard of Hoffer’s fine play. “We switched the lineup a little bit to try and get her on the outside to see if that would open things up for us.”

But Ashland, behind the strong play of Zehner, Pool (10 kills), and Sara Finks (10 kills), showed their overall strength at the net.

“I think I kind of did it for the team — when it’s your last time out here on the court, and I knew that — and we all had big dreams for going on in the tournament, so I think we all did it for each other, we didn’t do  it for individuals,” said Zehner of playing her last game at Arrow Arena, along with fellow seniors Finks, Mills, Jianmei Lefelhoc, and Hallie Eighinger. “We definitely all have a different role in leadership on this team, whether it be vocal or non-vocal, we all play in control on this team.”

Vaughn said Finks, Bond (10 digs), and Pool all played well for Ashland.

“Ava grinds, she works so hard, is one of our six rotational players, she doesn’t come off the court. We ask her to play defense, terminate on offense, and she does it all for us,”Vaughn lauded. “Sara Finks is very smart on offense, so she mixes up her shots very well, she knows when to tip and when to bang, and she does a really nice job with that. Lilly has been coming on really strong at the end of the season, which is really exciting for our team."

Now the Arrows have a quick turnaround to prepare for Springfield in the next round.

“We’re excited we get to practice tomorrow," Vaughn said. "Half the teams that played tonight don’t get to play tomorrow, so we’re excited and feel really honored to be able to keep working towards our goals. We’re ready for the battle, we’re ready for the challenge.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Emma Valentine records 1,000 career dig in Ashland's sectional win