Meadville shows resiliency vs. Cochranton

Oct. 6—The Meadville Lady Bulldogs battled hard Wednesday night against intra-district opponent Cochranton.

The 'Dogs were rewarded with a 3-1 (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21) non-region win at Meadville Area Senior High School's House of Thrills.

Cochranton, ranked No. 5 in the latest Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association poll, showed why its ranked in the state. Senior Devyn Sokol hammered a kill for the match's first point before rattling off four straight aces to give her team a 9-3 lead.

Meadville responded with a run of its own and tied the set 10-10. The Crawford Central School District foes traded points until the score was knotted at 24. Chae Kennedy registered an ace for set point before a Cochranton hitting error gave Meadville a 26-24 win.

The narrow margin of victory was a sign of things to come.

Cochranton dominated the second set to tie the match. It seemed the Cards would run away with the third set too. The Red Birds led 11-4 before the Lady Bulldogs put their rally caps on.

A string of Cards' errors swung momentum in Meadville's favor. Offensively, Emma Parks tallied kill after kill and dragged her team into the lead. A Cochranton service error put Meadville ahead 19-18 and helped the Bulldogs take the set 25-22.

"We were down in every set and we rallied back. We executed a little better than last night. That was great match. We had to work hard," Meadville head coach Tim Schleicher said. "That team (Cochranton) is excellent and it's a huge boost for our program to get the win. These last two nights show what level we need to be at mentally and physically when we walk in the gym."

The fourth set was back and forth with neither team holding momentum for long. Parks would get her team a lead only for Cochranton's Brooklyn Needer or Sokol to pound a spike into the floor and even the set.

With a 17-17 tie — a volley that seemed to last an eternity resulted in a point for Meadville. The energy in the House of Thrills after the point translated into several more Meadville points and a 22-18 lead. The Lady Bulldogs won the set 25-21 and gave Cochranton its first loss of the season.

"I'm really proud of them," Schleicher said. "Cochranton forces you into a lot of bad plays but we showed a lot of resiliency tonight."

For Cochranton, the team led in every set and played high-level volleyball for much of the match.

"We need to finish when we have a lead. We had ample opportunity to win games 1, 3 and 4. We just couldn't finish," Cochranton head coach Marci Malliard said. "Sometimes we had silly errors at inopportune times. One little thing can give momentum to the other side."

It was Cochranton's first loss of the season. The Cardinals are now 10-1 overall but still hold an undefeated region record.

"We don't get pushed enough in our region so these extra few matches we can pick up plus tournaments are key to growing as a team. They are character building, win or lose. Tonight, we had our opportunities and credit to them for picking away at a lead and finishing strong," Malliard said. "Just a few errors in chunks can dismantle a lead little by little. I'm sure it was a great match to watch, but like Tim said of the match with Corry, it's a little stressful on the floor."

Sokol led the Cards with 21 kills and six aces. Needler added 18 kills. Dana Jackson dished 49 assists and added seven digs. Senior Taytum Jackson led the defense with 16 digs while Macie Williams had 13.

Cochranton will play at Tidioute Charter today in a Region 2 match.

Meadville moved to 8-2 overall. The Lady Bulldogs were led by Parks, who stuffed the stat sheet with 35 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and two aces. Elliott Schleicher dished 39 assists and added 16 digs. Sydney Burchard had eight digs and three aces. As a team, Meadville had 14 aces.

The Bulldogs will host Conneaut on Tuesday for a Region 5 showdown.

"It's nice to get one like that against an excellent team. It's great for the girls. They kept working and I'm happy they got the results on top of the effort, which you don't always get. For them to be rewarded with that is huge," Schleicher said. "We'll be at their tournament on Saturday and it'll be good to play all day. We want to keep the arrow pointed up the closer we get to the end of October."

Before the match, Meadville surprised Malliard with a tribute for her career. It is Malliard's final year of coaching and she received a standing ovation from the crowd and flowers.

"I'd like to say thank you to Tim and the Meadville team for honoring my career," Malliard said. "It was very unexpected and very humbling."

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.