Wilson needs 4 to best the Bison

SWOOPE — Just don’t ask about Game 2.

Wilson Memorial cruised to a 3-1 Shenandoah District volleyball win over host Buffalo Gap Tuesday, losing just one match — you guessed it — the second one.

“Don’t ask me about that second game,” Wilson coach Kim Claytor said. “We made a lot of mistakes and just gave that game to [Buffalo Gap]. Some things never change.”

After crushing the Bison 25-14 in Game 1 behind a five-kill effort from standout Kala Guy, Wilson fell — in near-predictable fashion — in Game 2.

Wilson (13-3, 6-1 Shenandoah) opened the game with a double-hit error and the Gap’s Courtney Sanderson drilled a point to the Wilson floor. Three more Hornet errors, a dink by Lauren McCutcheon and a big ace from Cassie Deaver gave the Bison a 6-0 run. Gap (4-11, 1-5 Shenandoah) maintained its advantage — and the momentum — to grab a 25-15 win.

“We have some really good net players,” Bison coach Sara Botkin said. “They can place the ball where I ask them to.”

Gap placed enough shots to let Wilson take themselves out of the game. The visitors committed 13 unforced errors in Game 2.

But after a brief respite and the typical Claytor-speak between games, Wilson came out on fire.

Using Guy as a decoy, Wilson’s Nöel Bartley and Taijha Jones delivered the kills and six different Hornets recorded attacks in Game 3. The Bison didn’t know what hit them. Guy didn’t record her first kill of the game until the score was 23-12 and out of reach.

“I’ve told the girls that we just can’t depend on one person all the time,” Claytor said of Guy. “When we are able to spread things around, we keep [Gap] guessing. Their defense doesn’t know what we’re doing and their blockers don’t know what we are doing. When we’re hitting well, it’s hard to stop us.”

The Bison found that out the hard way, losing Game 3 by a lopsided 25-12 score.

“They just ran us back and forth and hit it all over the net,” Botkin said. “They were definitely working our blockers.”

Game 4 was much closer, but once Wilson grabbed the momentum, it didn’t let go.

Leading 7-5, Guy stepped to the service line and reeled off three straight points — including an ace — to push the lead to five. After a Wilson error, the turning point of the match came when senior Christine Coffield delivered a deep overhead save that dropped untouched to the Gap floor.

Tiffany Crosby then dropped an ace on the hosts and Wilson never let up, cruising to the 25-16 win.

“When you are playing as well as Wilson does and we got down, it’s hard to get back up,” Botkin said. “It’s all about the momentum.”

Wilson was led by Guy who finished with 16 kills, five blocks, 13 digs, nine service points and two aces. Crosby added seven kills, 12 assists and seven digs while Jones contributed six kills and 13 digs.

For Buffalo Gap, Renee Burford had eight service points, six kills and five assists while Deaver added 14 service points and 13 assists. McCutcheon added seven kills and nine digs.

The Bison did manage to take the junior varsity contest with a tight 25-15, 24-26, 16-14 win. Wilson was paced by Jessi Fitzgerald’s 11 digs, six assists, two kills and seven service points and three kills, two blocks, 19 digs and three aces from Katie Grimm.

Wilson Memorial travels to Page County on Thursday while Gap travels to Stonewall.