Sheridan beat Chillicothe in four sets Tuesday, Oct. 27, in a Division III district semifinal at Logan High School, winning 26-24, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
Through three sets Chillicothe hung right with Sheridan, and the Cavaliers took the third set to extend the match, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. Sheridan star middle hitter Mauriana O’Brien then took control in the fourth set, helping the Generals pull away to end Chillicothe’s postseason run, the Gazette reported.
“She’s a great player,” Chillicothe coach Leslie Hamman said of O’Brien, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. “We just kept telling them that we had to keep [Sheridan] out of system, and just to keep swinging back. We did everything we could,” Hamman told the Chillicothe Gazette.
“Chillicothe is very good and Evelyn is one of the best players we’ve played all year,” Sheridan coach Emma Taylor told the Chillicothe Gazette. “So I was very impressed with how we defended her and how we were able to get some really big stops,” Taylor told the Chillicothe Gazette.
The first set set the tone: Chillicothe seized a 13-12 lead, Sheridan answered with a 5-0 run to go ahead 17-13 behind four consecutive kills from O’Brien, and Chillicothe ripped off six straight points to take a 19-17 edge, the Chillicothe Gazette reported. Sheridan finished the set 26-24 and won the second 25-21 before Chillicothe answered in the third.
Sheridan improved to 20-5 with the win, and Chillicothe finished 18-7, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. The Gazette reported Chillicothe says goodbye to four seniors — Hamman, Isabella Witte, Bella Canter and Bradyn Smith — after a share of the Frontier Athletic Conference title and the program’s deepest tournament run since 2012, a run that included an upset of top-seeded Marietta.
Sheridan now advances to the Division III district championship, where the Generals will face Tri-Valley at 1 p.m. Oct. 31 at West Muskingum High School, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. The Gazette reported Sheridan has already beaten Tri-Valley twice this year.