Lady Indians upend SR in thriller

Point-for-point, set-for-set, it was quite possibly one of the area’s most memorable volleyball matches in some time and certainly this season. Who came out on top Monday night? The host Milan Lady Indians, who went toe-to-toe against county rival South Ripley and knocked off the Lady Raiders 3-2 in an Ohio River Valley Conference match.

With the victory, Milan, South Ripley and Southwestern (Hanover) all sit with just one loss in conference play as the regular season nears its end.

Milan’s 26-24 victory in set one set the tone for the night and it was a nailbiter the rest of the way with hardly any separation between the two rivals. The Lady Raiders bounced back 25-23 in set two but Milan gained a 2-1 advantage after a 26-24 triumph in set three. South Ripley forced a decisive fifth-set with a 25-23 score but in the end the black and gold found a little bit of late momentum and used a 15-11 final to take the classic.

Caroline McMillan smacked 12 kills and Lainey Stock swatted 11 kills in the win for Milan while Kayleigh McIntosh served up three aces. McMillan and Kyndell Furnish were valuable up front with four blocks apiece, Josie Prifogle found her way to 33 digs and McIntosh set things up for a total of 32 assists.

Kaylie Effing delivered 24 kills for South Ripley and Claire Samples tallied up 18 kills, 30 digs and a block. Evelyn Kelly produced 11 kills, 22 digs, one block and a 100 percent serving percentage.

Both teams were also in action on Tuesday night with South Ripley beating South Dearborn 3-1 at home and Milan falling 3-0 at Lawrenceburg.

Lawrenceburg (18-5) won by straight-set scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-17. Statistics for the Lady Indians were not provided by time of print. Milan (18-11, 5-1 ORVC) is home tonight against Jac-Cen-Del.

South Ripley won by scores of 25-12, 25-15, 22-25 and 28-26. Samples put up 10 kills and 12 digs, freshman Mallory Kelly had eight kills and two aces and Kelly contributed six kills and eight digs. Megan Bascom also produced and had a stat line of 28 assists, 13 digs and three kills.

The Lady Raiders (10-10, 3-1 ORVC) will try to give Southwestern its second conference loss tonight at home.