ROGERS — Taylor Ochs pumped her fist and flashed a huge smile when Shiloh Christian’s front line rose up to block the final shot by Rogers Heritage.
It was only a benefit volleyball match that won’t count in the overall record. But to the players of both teams, the match was anything but meaningless.
Shiloh Christian rallied for a 3-2 win Tuesday in a match that went the full five games. Ochs played a key role for the Lady Saints, serving the final six points in the fifth game after Heritage had pulled to within 9-7.
Her kill gave Shiloh Christian a 10-7 lead and an ace on her following serve turned the tide of the close 25-20, 15-25, 26-28, 25-22, 15-7 match.
“We’ve been working on finishing and having endurance,” Shiloh Christian coach Shyrah Perry said. “We knew it would probably go five (games). It’s kind of a regular thing when we play Heritage.”
Shiloh Christian took game one and only trailed twice before pulling away behind Emily May and libero Maddie Elliott for the 25-20 win.
The Lady Saints led 5-0 in the second game before Heritage rallied to tie the game at 8-8 behind the strong net play by Emily Alderson and Emily Kurtz. Alderson had 18 kills in the match and Kurtz added nine.
The game swung toward the Lady War Eagles when Kendra Lynn, the team’s libero, stepped to the service stripe with her team trailing 12-10.
Lynn’s powerful serves from the left side of the court accounted for seven straight points and an 18-12 lead before her serve finally caught the net to end the run. Heritage went on to a 25-15 win, and Lynn finished with nine service aces in the match and a team-high 41 digs.
Game three was a classic that went extra as Heritage claimed a 28-26 win. Neither team managed more than a three-point lead and the match was tied five times in the late stages, the last at 26-26, before Heritage scored the final two points.
Shiloh Christian had big leads in game four, but each time Heritage appeared out of it, the Lady War Eagles rallied back. Angela Tran was stellar at the net with several kills and Nikki Van Wilpe also contributed several key plays.
But Shiloh Christian’s Brittany Butler, a 5-foot-11 junior, was dominant at the net and Lauren Brown and Katlyn Benham also had key plays in the 25-22 win that set up the final game.
“Shiloh is a great team,” Heritage coach Sarah Miser said. “One of the reasons we schedule them in a benefit game is because it’s gone five games the last four years. We expect a close match. It doesn’t help us to cream some team, or get creamed.”
Both teams open the regular season next week.