After the Central Lady Bulldogs breezed through their first set in convincing fashion on Thursday, it appeared that there would be a rubber-set showdown after the Buffalo Lady Bison responded and stormed out to a 16-11 lead in the second stanza.
But there would be no additional play needed as Central (6-6), playing at home in a noisy James Ball Gymnasium, fought back to edge the Lady Bison (1-9-1) and seal a match victory by finals of 25-11 and 28-26.
“When we're down, we work harder which gets us all the way up,” Central junior Jahcey Farmer said about her team's rally in the second set. “I think that's our biggest thing.”
The Lady Bulldogs weren't down very often in the opening set – in fact, they faced their only deficit when Buffalo notched the first point of the night. Thanks to somewhat haphazard play by the road squad, Central followed up by scoring eleven of the set's next twelve points to boast an 11-2 lead and never looked back.
When asked about her team's early play, Buffalo head coach Carmen Smith wasn't shy in pinpointing the primary fault that led to the 25-11 rout.
“Our servicing was horrible,” Smith said.
Between sets, Smith decided to change her lineup around in hopes of giving her team a much-needed wake-up call that could mix together a winning formula.
The adjustment worked, as the Lady Bison built leads of 8-4, 11-6 and 22-18 to give hope to a Buffalo bunch that seemed to be spinning its tires after its first defeat.
“I think they just decided to play with a little more heart and desire in that second set,” said Smith of her team. “We were waiting for that. We haven't really showed that team yet, so I'm extremely pleased. Even though it was a loss, it was a hard-fought loss.”
Led by first-year head coach Lisiane Matsdorff, Central rallied late to eventually tie the score at 23-23. Both teams proceeded to trade points – ultimately producing a tie at 26 apiece before Central regained the advantage, 27-26.
That set the stage for Jahcey Farmer, who made the biggest play of the night by diving to save a would-be point for Buffalo and allowing senior Hannah Childs to collect the game-winning kill.
“In my mind, I just think to go for every ball, get it up and finish the play so we can win the game and go home,” Farmer said, smiling.
Farmer, along with teammates Zoe Hancock and Claire Zuch, finished with a team-high five kills on the evening. Childs led the way in assists and digs with ten and six, respectively.
Central will look to keep on track with its winning ways when it travels to play Waynesville on Tuesday. Buffalo hits the road to square off with Osage on Monday.
