Kaelynn Sphapmixay (20) of Fairbanks sets the ball for Caydee Breneman’s (17) kill Saturday afternoon. The Lady Panthers won the Division III sectional title with a three-set sweep over Africentric. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
A slow start did not translate into a prolonged problem Saturday for Fairbanks’ volleyball squad.
“We were a little low on our energy at the start of the match,” said coach Ryanne Ufferman.
She had to remind her No. 7-seeded team to pick up some steam during the Division III sectional championship match against No. 18 Columbus Africentric.
The Lady Panthers listened as they kicked it into a higher gear.
FHS rolled to a three-set sweep, with each game score standing at 25-10.
The Lady Panthers came out flat as the Nubians held a 4-3 edge early in the first set.
An Africentric net violation later gave Fairbanks an 8-6 lead and the local team got its attack untracked.
Fairbanks blasted the ball so hard across the net that Africentric had trouble returning it in play.
Serve receptions were also problematic for the Nubians the entire match.
A smash over the net by Anna Higbee pushed the Lady Panthers (15-9) out to a 17-9 advantage.
Kills by Higbee and Claudia Mueller later elevated Fairbanks’ lead to 24-10.
An errant Nubian pass then gave FHS a point and a 1-0 margin in sets.
Olivia Vollrath tallied a pair of ace serves, which led to a 6-0 Fairbanks lead in the second contest.
Africentric didn’t score its first point of the set until Ki’Essence Pollard came through with a solid block.
That made the score 6-1.
Fairbanks however, gradually expanded its upper hand to 9-4 when the Nubians couldn’t keep the ball in play. That included a number of poor serve receptions.
Kaelynn Sphapmixay “pooched” a kill over the net to give the Lady Panthers a 14-4 margin.
She came up with another kill for a 16-5 advantage.
The Lady Nubians could not reduce their deficit to less than double digits the rest of the game.
Africentric miscues elevated Fairbanks’ lead to set point at 24-10.
Mueller then ended the game with a rather unusual kill.
An Africentric player blocked the ball, but it rested at the top of the net for a split second.
That was just long enough for Mueller to tap it to the opposing side of the court for the 25-10 victory.
A good majority of the Lady Panthers’ third-set points came on Nubian errors.
Errant blocks, passes and digs began to pile up as Fairbanks rose to a 17-4 lead.
Caydee Breneman tipped the ball for a kill that pushed FHS out to a 23-6 margin.
Africentric notched its ninth point a few minutes later on an ace serve from BiJiun Adams.
A Panther hit into the net allowed for the Nubians’ final point and a 23-10 deficit.
Africentric sent the ball way up in the gymnasium rafters on its next play.
The sphere fell harmlessly to the floor as FHS went to set point, 24-10.
Breneman then ended the match with a tip kill.
“We served well and did a good job of hitting our serving spots,” said Ufferman.
“We also played pretty well on defense.”
The Lady Panthers finished with 33 kills, many of which came on sets from Sphapmixay.
She finished with 21 assists.
Mueller led the way with nine kills, while Higbee finished with eight.
FHS tallied 29 ace serves during the three-set match.
Reese Poling finished with eight and Mueller came through with seven.
Fairbanks will travel to Mt. Vernon High School for the district semifinals on Thursday.
The Lady Panthers will tangle with No. 2 seed Cardington.
The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Triad season ends
The volleyball campaign came to an end for Triad on Saturday.
The Lady Cardinals went into the Southwest District Division IV tournament as the No. 24 seed.
They fell to top-seeded Fort Loramie by scores of 4-25, 8-25, 10-25.
Triad finished with a 1-20 record.