Reservoir volleyball comes back to beat Howard; Gators and Lions to share county championship | Howard County sports roundup
In a match to determine the Howard County champion, Reservoir volleyball had its back against the wall Thursday.
Trailing Howard 2-1 after three sets, Reservoir fell behind 19-14 in the fourth game. But the Gators didn’t back down, winning 12 of the next 17 points to come back and send the match to a fifth set.
After falling down 7-3 early in the final set, the Gators battled back once again to earn the comeback victory, 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 22-25, 26-24, 15-11). The triumph also clinched Reservoir (13-1) a share of the Howard County championship with Howard (13-1), as the squads split their two matchups this season.
“This is a great feeling. I’m really happy and relieved,” said Reservoir libero Gabby Allen, who led the Gators with 16 digs. “At the beginning of the year, people didn’t think we’d be as good anymore because we didn’t have [Howard County spring 2021 Player of the Year] Kayla Browne. We just wanted to prove everyone wrong. And tonight, we didn’t have anything to lose. All the pressure was on Howard.”
Howard, which entered the contest undefeated, beat Reservoir, 3-1, in mid-September. That victory gave the Lions revenge for their loss to Reservoir in the county championship match this past spring, which the Gators won to claim the title and an undefeated season.
On Thursday, the roles were reversed, as the Gators were the ones seeking revenge.
“We definitely had that determination today. We wanted to get back at them,” said Gators hitter Samiha Foster, who led Reservoir with 32 kills. “The way we felt after that game, we never want to feel that way again. We knew we’d redeem ourselves.”
“I think today it was more about mental preparation,” Reservoir coach Carole Ferrante said. “We’re mentally tougher now than we were at the beginning of the season. … We didn’t do what we were supposed to do the first time, and we wanted to show [Howard] that we were a better team than that.”
Despite the loss, Howard still ends the regular season as co-county champions, a feat that isn’t lost for Lions coach Allison McCoy.
“This team has been firing since Day 1 and playing like a midseason team since the beginning of the season,” she said. “Even though it didn’t go the way we wanted today, I’m still proud of this team.”
Both teams now look forward to the postseason, as the MPSSAA volleyball seeds will be released Nov. 1.
This story will be updated with more information and a photo gallery.
Reservoir def. Howard — 3-2 [17-25, 25-20, 22-25, 26-24, 15-11]
Records: Re 13-1; Ho 13-1.
Don’t see scores or stats from your favorite team? Send results and any game information to Jacob Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com.
