Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School put an end to the Bradford volleyball team’s five-match winning streak, defeating the visiting Tornadoes 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 26-24) on Sept. 27.
It was the second win in three matches for the Indians (11-8), who played Union County this past Monday and will host Interlachen on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m.
Bradford (6-8) played West Nassau this past Tuesday and will travel to play Palatka on Thursday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m. The Tornadoes then travel to play Eastside on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m.
The Tornadoes led throughout most of the early portion of the first set and went up 11-9 after scoring three points with Kencie Wainwright serving. Keystone retook the lead and gradually increased it. The Indians were up 22-14 before scoring two points with Jules Padgett serving. An Ajiyah Jackson kill forced side-out and prevented Keystone from scoring a third straight point, but the Indians would eventually win 25-15.
Keystone scored five straight points with Della Boyette serving to take a 10-3 lead in the second set. Kamryn Eatmon and Sarah Siebert each had a kill during the sequence.
The Indians maintained their lead and took a 22-8 lead behind two service points by Kori Jennings. It was 24-10 when Bradford’s Wainwright recorded a kill to force side-out. The Tornadoes got a point off a Reagan Harris kill before Keystone won on a service error.
Bradford was able to stay close to Keystone in the third set, scoring multiple points on serves by players such as Wainwright and Rylie Blankenship and getting kills from players such as Harris and Ayanna Pringle. The Tornadoes scored two points — including one off a Jackson block — with Takeirra Bakken serving to trail the Indians 21-20. It was 22-21 in favor of Keystone when the Tornadoes scored three straight with Blankenship serving, with one point coming off a Raven Ford kill.
The Indians trailed 24-23, but closed out the match with Padgett serving. A Jennings dump resulted in the winning point.
Jennings had 17 assists and six kills, while Eatmon led the team in kills with seven. Eatmon also had three aces and two blocks.
Siebert and Kiersten Shaw each had five kills for Keystone, with Siebert also blocking four attacks. Riley Barry had two blocks, while Padgett had 11 digs and four aces. Matia Papaioannou and Kadence Carlton each added three aces.
The Tornadoes got 14 digs, four blocks, three kills and three assists from Bakken, while Blankenship had 16 digs and three assists. Jackson led Bradford with eight blocks, while Ford and Harris had five and three, respectively. Ford also had five digs, while Harris had three.
Ashley Brady and Pringle added eight and six digs, respectively, for the Tornadoes.
Keystone entered the match off a 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-13, 25-16) loss to visiting Middleburg on Sept. 28. Jennings had 21 assists and four aces, while Shaw had seven kills. Barry and Eatmon each had five kills and two blocks, with Padgett adding 12 digs.
