It took the Elsik Lady Rams five games to subdue Mayde Creek and remain in the playoff hunt in District 18-5A.  Behind the tenacious hitting and blocking of seniors Adaora Elonu and Rachael Blunt, Elsik demonstrated plenty of fire power at the net in the posting the 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 21-25, 15-7 win.

But in the end, it wasn’t so much firepower as who would blink first.  After games where lead changes were numerous, ties frequent, and points often going not to the team on offense but to the team that made the defensive play to win a side out, a series of Mayde Creek mistakes opened the door for Elsik in the fifth and final game. 

Unhappy with a referee’s call, Blunt voiced her displeasure with a vicious kill that broke a 6-6 tie and set up Elsik’s final run.  Though Mayde Creek managed to tie at 7-all on a spike by Carolyn Colpoys, Vivian Agbontaen answered with a hit of her own to regain the lead for Elsik and send Blunt behind the serving line.  Mayde Creek would get no closer, as it was unable to handle Blunt’s serves, the dinks of Agbontaen, or the kills of Evelyn Ashiofu, and Elsik scored the final six points to take the match.

Mayde Creek had trouble all night with Elonu, who led Elsik hitters with 16 kills.  Blunt had nine on the night.  On the other side of the net, Jasmine Brown and Bailey Colby had 14 and 13 kills, respectively, but it wasn’t enough.  When Elonu wasn’t blasting away through Mayde Creek’s blocks, she was tipping the ball in the holes in the stingy, scrambling Mayde Creek defense.

And Elonu wasn’t alone in her assault against the Mayde Creek defenders.  Besides Blunt, the front line of Ashiofu, Agbontaen and Adaeze Elonu were throwing up a wall in the face of the Mayde Creek hitters.  Setting them up was Sierra Whittaker, who turned the tables, and set quite a few over the net to keep Mayde Creek off balance.

Mayde Creek took the lead in the match early, winning the first game 25-20.  But things tightened up fast in the second game, as the teams handed the lead back and forth.  Mayde Creek’s Brown, Colby and Afton Zimmerman did their best to hold off Elonu and company, providing some offensive fireworks of their own, but it wasn’t enough.  Even when Elsik tried a softer touch at the net, relying on finesse, dinks, and sets to the other side—sometimes costing them points—they still managed to stay close to Mayde Creek, which held a razor thin one-to-two-point lead throughout much of the second game.  Whittaker’s kill broke a 21-21 tie, while a block by Blunt and Adaeze Elonu gave the third game to Elsik 25-22.

Mayde Creek led throughout the fourth game behind the spikes of Brown, Colby, Megan Hernandez and Kelsey Teague and the blocks of Maija King and Colpoys.  Seven straight points would be registered on side outs, as the defensive nature of the contest became intense.

For Elsik, the win was sweet revenge as Mayde Creek defeated them 3 games to one in their earlier meeting at Mayde Creek.  Elsik now owns a 7-5 district record and is 23-11 overall, while Mayde Creek falls to 6-6 and 16-19.

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