BELLBROOK – Although Bellbrook had already locked up the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division volleyball title, Eaton had hopes of handing the host Golden Eagles their first league loss of the season in the final regular season match for both teams.
Eaton put up a much better fight this time around than they did in the previous meeting between the two teams, but still came out on the short end of the scoreboard, falling in straight sets 25-19, 25-21, 25-17 on Thursday, Oct. 13.
In the first meeting in September, Eaton fell 25-17, 25-13, 25-17.
Eaton challenged the hosts early and often in the first two sets.
After falling behind 7-3 in the first set, Eaton rallied to tie the match at 10-all and trailed 14-13 before Bellbrook pulled away for the win.
In the second set, Eaton opened up leads of 5-1, 6-2 and 10-4. But Bellbrook battled back to tie the set at 13-13. Eaton, though, pulled ahead 17-14 and still led 18-16. The hosts chipped away to take a 19-18 lead. The set was tied twice more at 19-19 and 20-20 before Bellbrook took advantage of a few Eaton mistakes down the stretch.
In set three, Eaton couldn’t stop Bellbrook’s momentum and fell behind 8-1 to start the set. Eaton got as close as 11-7 before Bellbrook pulled away to complete the sweep.
With the loss, Eaton fell to 13-9 overall and 7-5 in the SWBL, good enough for a third place tie with Monroe. Bellbrook won the league with a perfect 12-0 mark. Valley View was second at 10-2.
Eaton is scheduled to begin tournament play on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Lebanon High School against either Valley View or Stivers. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
