Eisenhower seniors Madi Green, Currie Hultman and Emiley Wheeler were recognized during Senior Night festivities prior to the match, and came up big when the Knights most needed it and forced a fifth set. But Youngsville pulled away in the deciding game to come away with the 25-14, 20-25, 25-20, 25-27 and 15-5 win.

“We came out guns blazing,” Youngsville coach Vicky Montecalvo said. “But then we got a little too cocky. Eisenhower wasn’t going to hand it to us.”

The Eagles grabbed a 7-5 lead in the fifth and junior Kamryn Weissinger stepped to the service line. An ace and a pair of Kenzie Olewine kills dotted a 9-0 run to end the match.

“You could kind of feel the momentum ebb away when it got to 1-1, 2-2 and our servers struggled,” Eisenhower coach Scott Olson said. “Then Kam went on that big run. Those are serves that we need to get some plays on and we passed poorly.”

Times Observer photo by Brian Hagberg Eisenhower’s Madi Green (6) puts down a kill past Youngsville’s Kenzie Olewine (15) during the fourth set of their match at Eisenhower High School, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. Green was one of three senior Knights honored before the match.

The teams traded leads to start the first set, but Youngsville took it at 6-5 and never trailed again. With the set tied at 7-7, the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to break things open. Olewine and Andrea Sveda each had a pair of kills in the late stages of the set and Youngsville took advantage of some unforced errors by an Eisenhower group playing together for the first time since preseason camp.

“This was the first time this group had been together in a match all season (due to injury),” Olson said. “They played well in spurts and they played poorly in spurts.”

The first set jitters behind them, the Knights showed how effective they could be to start the second set. Hultman had a pair of aces and Wheeler two blocks and a kill as Eisenhower opened with a 7-0 run. Weissinger put a big kill down the line to cut the lead to 9-3 and start a Youngsville rally. The Eagles got to within a point four times, but couldn’t get the set tied. A 5-0 run pushed the Knights advantage to 21-14 and the Eagles never got closer than three the rest of the way.

“Our defense was struggling tonight,” Montecalvo said.

Youngsville opened the third set with a 5-0 run. Eisenhower cut the deficit to 8-7, but Weissinger put down a kill and served an ace to start another 5-0 run. The Eagles led by as many as eight and no less than three as they closed out the set and took a 2-1 match lead.

“They had those big runs in every set,” Olson said.

The Eisenhower servers took command of the early part of the fourth set as Rayna Hultman had an ace and Wheeler a pair to put the Knights up 9-3. Eisenhower held Youngsville at bay, but the Eagles started to make a charge. They won two straight and looked as though they would get an ace with the Knights leading 16-12. Paige Edwards made a diving dig that went over the net and fell to the floor to halt the momentum.

Momentarily.

A service error gave the serve back to Youngsville and Sveda stepped to the line to serve a 7-0 run that put the Eagles on top, 19-17. The teams traded points and leads until they played to a 22-22 tie. Youngsville took the next two points to give them match point at 24-22. Eisenhower came back to take a 25-24 lead. The Eagles tied it again, but the Knights took the next two points to force the fifth set.

“I was impressed in the fourth set with the comeback,” Olson said.

Montecalvo was equally impressed with her team’s resolve in the fifth.

“We were able to rebound in a way we’ve never done before,” she said. “We were able to get the momentum back.”

Currie Hultman had 10 kills, three aces, three assists and two digs, while Rayna Hultman added 10 assists. Wheeler finished with nine kills, five aces, five blocks and five digs and Edwards had five kills, three digs and two aces.

Olewine led the Eagles with 10 kills and Weissinger finished with 26 service points.

These two will be back at it again tonight in the second match of their home-and-home series. Tonight’s contest will be at Youngsville.

Youngsville won the junior varsity match 23-25, 25-21 and 15-9.