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TCN One out of Two for the Week.
On Tuesday, TCN traveled to Tri-Village. TCN had to make a line-up change due to injury suffered to middle hitter Bethany Neller in practice the day before. Ashley Tucker was called in to fill that critical spot and did a good job according to coach Aukerman. He was disappointed in the loss stating that, “Tri-Village just played awesome, probably the best that they have all year. Defensively, I think they had over 30 saves, a remarkable stat. They simply did not let the ball hit the floor. Their whole team played great. I don't think that my team played bad, we just lost confidence as we watch them make save after save, and we broke down defensively.” TCN just could not build any momentum against the failsafe defense of the Patriots. TCN lost in threes sets: 20-25, 21-25, and 16-25. Something that is rare for the North Panthers Stats for the game are Crystal Hargis with 5 digs; Ashley Tucker with 3 digs; Candi Croley with 2 digs; Candice Estep with 2 aces, 17 digs, 10 kills, and 2 blocks; Miranda Eisen with 3 aces, 2 digs, 19 assists, and 7 kills; Becca Steck with 25 digs and 12 kills; Brittany Flora with 1 kill; Lauren Perry with 7 digs, 7 assists, and 7 kills
After that loss, North needed to rebound and regain their momentum and confidence. Coach Aukerman was worried as he considered Covington one of the most athletic teams that he would face this fall. But in his words, “they just couldn't seem to get on the same page.” Injury has been a factor for the Bucc's, but they played the Panthers hard. Taking a cue from the Patriots, the Panthers stepped up their defensive performance. Coach Aukerman stated “They hit the ball hard all night, but my diggers just did an excellent job of passing the spikes. We also had the 3 best saves of the year in this match. He was pleased with the performance of Candice Estep who “has been passing really well the last couple of weeks. Bethany Neller returned from her injury for this match and gave the team a boost with her hitting and serving. He also pointed out that Brittany Flora had a great game, he was particularly pleased with her serving against the Bucc's. Covington went down in 3 sets: 25-21, 25-16, 25-23. Stats for the game are Bethany Neller 6 kills and 2 assists; Ashley Tucker had 7 digs; Candice Estep had 2 aces, 21 digs, 16 kills, and 5 blocks; Miranda Eisen had 3 aces, 4 digs, 30 assists, and 4 kills; Becca Steck had 1 ace, 16 digs, 13 kills; Candi Croley had 1 ace and 4 digs; Crystal Hargis had 7 digs; Brittany Flora had 3 aces, 2 digs, and 2 kills; Lauren Perry had 1 ace, 5 digs, 5 assists, and 7 kills.
TCN's record is now 15 -5 overall and 6-3 in the CCC. They will be at Bethel home on Tuesday and Ansonia away on the Thursday to wrap up the season. TCN plays sectional host Brookville at 12:00 on Saturday at Brookville.
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