Purple and gold was pitted against purple and gold when visiting Leipsic swept Ada in a Northwest Conference volleyball match Thursday night, October 7.
The Lady Vikings, ranked sixth in the Ohio Div. IV poll, improved to 18-1 overall and finished 7-1 in NWC play with the win.
The Lady Bulldogs fell to 2-17 overall and 0-7 in the NWC with the 25-9, 25-12, 25-14 loss.
Leipsic needs a loss by Lincolnview (7-0 NWC) in their league finale at arch-rival Crestview (6-1 NWC) next Tuesday to force a three-way tie for the title. The Vikings can finish no worse than second.
A Lincolnview win at Crestview would give the Lancers a third straight undefeated NWC crown. The last team to author a league title three-peat was Ada from 2015-17.
"Leipsic is a really good team," said Ada head coach Kyleigh Woodruff. "They are just very solid all-around. Their hitters placed the ball well and hit hard, too.
"Our defense had quite a few digs, but they had a lot of kills."
The Vikings rolled to a 25-9 first-set win behind the hitting of junior Kasey Brough. The Bulldogs were more competitive and feisty in the ensuing two sets.
Brough then served the Vikings to a 7-0 lead to start game two. Ada junior Emilee Huffer came up with a block and a clean kill to get the Bulldogs on the board.
Senior Selena Jordan's successful attack cut the deficit to 12-4. A Marisa Hermiller kill ended a long rally for Leipsic.
A tip by Lily Baumgartner and later a clean crosscourt kill by junior Courtney Sumner kept Ada within 19-8. Bulldog sophomore Daicy Robinson slammed a kill off a Viking block.
Jordan's two-hand push tip made it 23-11. But Brough ended the game 25-12 on a big kill off an Ada block.
In game three, Ada sophomore Autumn Andreasen served an ace to start off strong. Huffer authored a block kill to make it 2-0. Later, a Sumner kill was tipped out and Huffer came up with another block for a 4-3 Bulldog lead.
Leipsic then reeled off a 12-1 run to seize a 15-5 advantage. Baumgartner hit the sideline on a crosscourt kill, and Andreasen scored on a left-handed overhead tip.
Yet the powerful Vikings reached match point at 24-10. Huffer came up with a kill, followed by a great Sumner dig that allowed Ada to win a rally on a Viking hitting error.
The Bulldogs scrapped out another point, followed by a Robinson block to pull within 24-14.
But then Leipsic closed it out on a kill, 25-14.
"I am proud that we did not give up and kept fighting," Woodruff noted.
Sumner hit three kills and came up with 13 digs.
Setter Andreasen passed out 13 assists, served one ace and hustled up nine digs.
Robinson knocked down four kills and made one block. Junior Huffer contributed three kills, one ace and four blocks.
Senior Jordan added three kills. Freshman Baumgartner knocked down two kills and made one block. Senior Lexi White hustled up 10 digs.
The Leipsic junior varsity also won 2-0 to drop the Ada reserves to 6-11.
Ada plays at Upper Sandusky Monday, October 11 in a non-league match.
The Bulldogs then host Spencerville (10-8, 1-6 NWC) in the final home match of the season on Senior Night Tuesday, Oct. 12.
It will also be "Volley for the Cure Night" for breast cancer awareness.
