AMANDA — Through a set and a half of Tuesday’s season opener at Amanda-Clearcreek, Chillicothe’s Evelyn Hamman was having her way.
The Cavaliers’ senior leader had caused ruckus all night long, routinely finding open spots on the floor while providing several momentum-shifting stops at the net on the defensive end.
But when she gave her team a 16-8 lead midway through the second set with a block, upon landing, she noticed that four of her fingers on her left hand were straight — and one wasn’t.
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A dislocated ring finger forced Hamman to the bench throughout the rest of the night and, even with a one-game lead in the match, and a sizable lead in the set, adversity creeped its way in.
However, behind stellar bench play and the ability to rally around their injured teammate, the Cavaliers (1-0) fought their way through it, earning a straight-set win by a 25-11, 25-13, 26-24 final.
“We couldn’t have done what we did tonight if we didn’t have a bench,” Chillicothe coach Leslie Hamman said. “This isn’t about one player. We can’t win the game with one player. We win the game with all 12 of our players, whether they’re on the court or on the bench. That’s part of the culture that we’re trying to build. The girls rose to the occasion tonight.”
Chillicothe’s Marissa Stiteler and Amanda-Clearcreek’s Gavynn Sowers traded blows early in the first set before Hamman took matters into her own hands. Back-to-back kills gave the Cavaliers a 16-9 lead and kickstarted an 8-0 run to put the game out of reach.
In the second, aces from Hamman and Isabella Witte helped give Chillicothe a 10-4 lead. And, even after Hamman left with the injury, the Aces (0-1) continued to hinder their own cause with a pile of mistakes.
“I thought the girls played great for the first time out, against a Division III program like Chillicothe,” AC coach Ashley Kelley said. “But we beat ourselves a lot tonight with our serve-receive, serving the ball out and hitting the ball out. Those are things we haven’t been doing recently. But I really do think that’s first-game jitters. But those are out now and we’ll be ready to go.”
The third was a back-and-forth affair the entire way through.
Behind Sowers and teammate Olivia Davis, the Aces took leads of 8-7, 14-12 and 21-18. But late in the set, facing match point, the Cavaliers rallied to force a 24-24 tie.
An ace from Campbell McAllister and an error on the other side of the net sealed the victory.
“I think Amanda is going to surprise a lot of people,” Leslie Hamman said. “I had heard all summer long that [the Aces] were able to do some good things, and they definitely showed that tonight. We tried to prepare the best we could, but it’s early in the season. So you don’t have any scouting reports. But we know what we have to do to win games. The girls did that.”
The Aces will attempt to bounce back on Thursday, hosting Logan Elm, while Chillicothe travels to Lancaster on Saturday to face the Golden Gales and Gahanna Lincoln in a tri-match.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Chillicothe starts season with straight-set win over Amanda-Clearcreek