DRY FORK – Tunstall let a commanding advantage slip away before pouncing on Patrick County in the fifth set for a 3-2 Piedmont District victory on Thursday night in Dry Fork. Game scores were 25-21, 25-16, 24-26, 23-25 and 15-6.
The victory allowed Tunstall (14-0, 4-0) to remain undefeated this season and sent Patrick County (12-4, 3-1) to its first loss in the district.
After narrowly dropping the third set to let the sweep slip away, the Trojans struggled to regain the momentum. Patrick County led the fourth set 20-15 before the Trojans rallied to knot the score at 20-20, but the Cougars staved off Tunstall’s comeback to send the matchup to a decisive fifth set.
“The first two games we played just about as well as we could play, but volleyball is a game of momentum … and we lost the momentum and it is so difficult to get it back,” Tunstall coach Jackie Hardy said. “What most people don’t understand is that you get it back one point at a time. … My girls know that. They’ve learned that you can only get them one point at a time.”
With Kaitlyn Fulcher serving, Tunstall roared out to a 5-0 advantage in the fifth game to put the Cougars on their heels and force a timeout. The Trojans took a 10-3 lead thanks in part to a couple of Patrick County serves into the net and never looked back, expanding their advantage as the game progressed.
Fulcher paced the Trojans with 21 points and seven aces and Kelsey Smith scored five points while recording 13 kills and a whopping 15 blocks.
“You had to concentrate on every point,” Smith said after the Trojans won the fifth game, “because each point mattered when it was only going to 15.”
Morgan Distad added eight points and 14 assists, Amanda Gibson had seven points and two aces, Kelsey Van Asch recorded seven points and 17 digs, Megan Dillion chipped in with eight points, three aces, eight digs and six kills and Taylor Dix piled up 21 assists.
“Our thing is we like to go first to five, first to 10, first to 15,” Fulcher said, “and if we can get that then we’re pretty good at keeping the momentum.”
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