By BRIAN FEESTioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — A point here, and a point there proved to be the difference on Saturday as the Owego volleyball team was edged by Islip in the NYSPHSAA Class A Regional Final.
Islip won the first set 25-23 and the next set 25-22, before closing out the match 25-14 in the final set.
“We knew coming into today that it was going to be a competitive match and that we had to compete at ah high level in order to come out of there with a win,” Owego coach Abbey Manning said. “This team competed for every point. There were a ton of long rallies, where we continued to battle and we were able to win a lot of those long rallies.
“I’m proud to have coached this group of girls as they never skipped a beat. We may have been the team that made a few more mistakes than Islip, but I’m proud that the girls left everything out on that court today.”
After a back-and-forth first set, Owego trailed 6-1 to start the second set. However, they kept fighting back and got within 9-8.
Islip came back and went up 14-10, but a kill by Harrington got Owego within 14-13.
They trailed 15-13 after an Islip kill, but another kill by Harrington and Owego was within one again.
Hamed had a kill to get Owego within 19-18, but Islip went on a run and led 23-20.
An Islip serve hit the net and then an ace by Evelyn Howe had Owego within 23-22, however, a kill and an ace ended the set putting Islip up 2-0.
In the third set, Owego again fell behind 6-1 early, and again they fought back, tying things up at 7-7. Islip kept an edge, but Owego got within 10-9, before Islip won the next six points and never looked back.
Maggie Hamed had seven digs, 10 kills and a block and Alyssa Harrington had seven digs, a block and six kills to lead Owego, while Bella Miller had 23 assists and three digs.
Howe had three kills and a block and Ava McKeon had a dig and a kill, while Braelea McLaren had seven digs and nine kills for the River Hawks, and Peyton Coolbaugh had 10 digs and two assists.
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