FALCONS ASSURED A PERCH ATOP THE AAC YET AGAIN
BOARDMAN OH- As the regular season for volleyball begins winding down, conferences will start being
decided and teams will take home their first of potentially more trophies for the season. Conference contests have found a home of Thursday evenings for volleyball in Northeast Ohio and for The All-American Conference (AAC) this was no different. With a battle between the first place Austintown Fitch Falcons and the second place Boardman Spartans. The Falcons sporting a 5-0 record in the AAC entering Thursday have been a powerhouse in the conference to say the least. Winners of three straight conference championships and 21 consecutive AAC matches, they were in search of their fourth straight championship. The Spartans came in as a scrappy underdog, beating the likes of Canfield, Howland and Warren Harding to compile a 4-1 record and a chance to force a first place tie atop the conference. Dropping the prior meeting in straight sets at Fitch on September 5th, Boardman searched for their first win over The Falcons since September 27th, 2018.
The stage was set and both teams came ready to battle as both exchanged early points with both squads looking to start a rally. Boardman was riding the wave of momentum by the home crowd and wins by their freshmen and junior varsity teams over The Falcons. But Fitch broke away in the middle of the opening set with Rylie Simons behind the service line and captured the 25-18 win.
The following set started off in similar fashion with both teams scoring back-and forth; however, Austintown found their groove a little earlier. As The Falcons saw production from multiple sources equating to a 25-15 set two victory! Much of the same would be seen in set three, despite Boardman grabbing an early 3-0 lead, struggles behind the service line derailed some momentum. Fitch would duplicate the set previous with a 25-15 win to take the match in straight sets.
The match win officially clinches Austintown a share of the AAC crown with a chance to win it outright with a Falcon win or a Spartan loss in one of their next two contests. It is also the fourth consecutive AAC championship for The Austintown-Fitch volleyball team as they extended their win streak to 5 games in the regular season and 22 in the AAC!
Jordan Smith led the team in kills with 11 while also collecting 7 digs. Rylie was Rylie once again with the double-double in assists at 32 and digs at 13. The libero for the night Morgan Roby led all of the team in digs with 23 and some stellar defense. Katie Wilt continued to earn her wings with a 6 kill and 15 dig night. Player of the Match Afton Roby was the difference maker in battling the height of The Spartans at the net and getting 8 kills and 2 blocks to go along with 4 aces behind the service line!
Fitch (14-3)(6-0) will now turn their attention to The Highland Hornets (11-4) on Saturday, September 30th at noon. While Boardman (10-6)(4-2) will stay home to host Salem (1-15) on Tuesday, October 3rd. Interviews with Fitch Head Coach Kylee Herberger and Player of the Match Afton Roby can be found below!
