Sayre at Bryan Station five-set 42nd District Thriller Takeaways

It is not a surprise this one played out a full five sets considering the lead for the 42nd District Tournament top seed was on the line as the Sayre Spartans and Bryan Station Defenders came into Tuesday's game 2-0 in district seed play.   Both teams have dynamic hitters in junior [player_tooltip player_id='535188' first='Brooke' last='Barntsen'] for Sayre and [player_tooltip player_id='212249' first='Cameron' last='Owens'] for Bryan Station and are surrounded by a mixture of experienced and young, but talented players. It came down to which team executed a tad better and visiting Sayre (24-6 overall) did it in the 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory over the Defenders (14-15).   "Obviously, Bryan Station is a really good team, but we have a lot of young components. They all contributed in some way for the first time," Sayre head coach Leigh Nahra said. "We'll have a couple of them do good things, but this. I had a freshman setter play really good defense. This was the first game back for my freshman libero in a week and a half. She hadn't even worked on rotations so you never know with younger players. Everyone just stepped up at the same time. It was super special."   Barntsen once again worked well with senior [player_tooltip player_id='533377' first='Eli' last='Powell'] interchanging at the outside hitter and setter positions. Barntsen had some timely setovers for big points.   Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='892813' first='Decker' last='Kok'] even came in and set some to give the Spartans a changeup at that position. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='886496' first='Jace' last='Spencer'] returned after not playing for a week and a half taking over the libero spot in the second set after senior [player_tooltip player_id='892190' first='Phoebe' last='Barlow'] played it in the first set. The two along with senior Ellie Hiler made good passes to the setters. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='892807' first='Aubrey' last='Greathouse'], sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='774762' first='Margot' last='Kinkead'] and even senior [player_tooltip player_id='814280' first='Jayda' last='Davis'] had some big kills and blocks throughout the match.   Sayre especially had success with shoves to the sidelines and corners. Bryan Station had players in those spots, but messed up the first touches a good bit.   Senior setter [player_tooltip player_id='768308' first='Nyalie' last='Locke'] did a good job setting up Owens, [player_tooltip player_id='882181' first='Tylah' last='Walker'], [player_tooltip player_id='810153' first='Abigail' last='Brown'] and Cintaesia George. Sophomore libero Lilly Howard adjusted to the Sayre hits as the game progressed with sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='794979' first='Jojo' last='Covington'] and eighth grader [player_tooltip player_id='889777' first='Sophia' last='Newman'] making some nice first touches.   The first game saw Bryan Station go up 4-1 after three Owens kills. Sayre led 11-9 before Bryan Station rattled off four in a row to go up 13-11 after another Owens hard kill. The Spartans tied it at 14 before a wide hit gave the Defenders the lead for good. Two hitting errors plus another Owens kill gave Bryan Station a 21-16 advantage. Up just 22-21 following a hitting error, Owens landed a kill then another one after a Barntsen kill to put the Defenders up 24-22 before Howard finished it with an ace.   Bryan Station led the second set 7-3 after Owens had to more kills. But Sayre responded with a run off seven in a row on four Spencer aces to go up 10-7. Barlow then had two more to put Sayre up 14-9. The Spartans led by as many as nine at 24-15 before the Defenders scored two in a row. Powell landed a tip kill to give Sayre the second set.   Bryan Station used a big run of five straight on a Howard ace and Owens kill to go up 9-3 in the third set. Another Owens kill gave the Defenders a 13-5 advantage. The Spartans trimmed the margin to five at one point, but Locke landed a setover to give Bryan Station the third set.   The fourth set stayed tight. Up 12-10, Sayre scored three in a row to go up 15-10 and increased it to 23-14. Down 24-16, the Defenders scored three in a row before Greathouse finished the set with a kill.   The fifth set stayed tight the entire way. Owens landed a roll shot and Brown had a kill off a block to put Bryan Station up 4-2 prompting a Sayre timeout. The Spartans responded with two in a row to tie off a Barntsen kill and a Spencer ace before Brown landed a kill and Owens an ace to put the Defenders back up 6-4. The Spartans fought back to tie it three times before a long serve and an Owens back line kill gave the Defenders an 11-9 lead prompting another Sayre timeout.   The Spartans once again rallied when Powell landed a kill and Bryan Station hit one long. Owens landed a kill on the next play, but Sayre retied the game at 12 after a Bryan Station wide serve. Barntsen then hit a shove to the line that Bryan Station mishandled to give Bryan Station its first lead of the set at 13-12. The Defenders tied the game at 13 after a Sayre wide hit, but won the game when the Defenders hit a serve into the net and Powell landed a Barntsen set off a block and down to the middle to win the game for Sayre.   Sayre hopes to finish 4-0 and wrap up the top seed at home against Scott County on Thursday. Bryan Station looks to rebound at Frederick Douglass at the same time.   Notable Performances    Spencer (pictured) had a fantastic game in her return from injury. She displayed good first touches and defensive intensity on the court. Spencer sent hard jump serves to the lines to keep Bryan Station out of rhythm at various points in the game, particularly the second set. Spencer is also very enthusiastic on the court. Spencer said the Spartans have worked together this whole season and could not overstate the importance of fighting for every ball no matter the circumstances. She added going hard after balls has become second nature for her.     Barntsen had another sound, consistent game for the Spartans. She sets up teammates well with sound sets then takes great swings, especially on crosses. Barntsen sent some good shoves to corners with success in this game. She is reliable when the Spartans need a big kill. Barntsen said it is important to get back up after each point because every player is going to make mistakes during the game.     Greathouse provided sound net defense for the Spartans, at least getting touches on Owens after the first set. She landed some big blocks during the game. Greathouse also took some big rips in the front row sending balls screaming to the back row for big points. Greathouse said Owens has a really hard swings so it's hard to dig her up when they go flying to the floor so it was important to get blocks up on her.     Kok brings a different, yet effective dynamic to the Spartans at setter when she comes in. Kok has learned the hitters quickly and puts balls in their power zones. Kok is also turning into a nice passer for Sayre. Kok said she tries to perform her role to the best of her ability, doing what she can to set up the hitters with what is needed to put balls down.     Owens brings it each and every night for the Defenders. When they need a kill, Owens continually produces different ways to put balls down. She had a lot of success off tandems in this game. Owens even smokes balls from the back row. She delivers hard serves and is a sound passer. Owens did track down some corner shots in the loss.     Locke once again put a lot of sets on target for the Defenders. Lock can hit the high points of hitter swings so they can send balls over and around blockers. Locke mixed in sound setovers to keep Sayre honest.     Brown brings a nice presence at all six positions for the Defenders. She puts up solid blocks at the net and can come up with clutch kills when needed for the Defenders. Brown provides good leadership on the court.    Note from the Writer   Mike Graham has been writing for Prep Dig for one year and a half and has enjoyed getting to know the volleyball scenes in both Kentucky and Ohio. If you liked the story, please copy and paste to X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. You may also follow us at @prepdigkentucky or @prepdigoh on Instagram in addition to @PrepDigKy or @PrepDigOH on X. If you feel someone in Kentucky or Ohio needs coverage or even have feedback on the Kentucky rankings, please email Mike at pnmikeg@yahoo.com. You may also follow him on X @GMCgrah or Instagram @g.michaelgraham. 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It is not a surprise this one played out a full five sets considering the lead for the 42nd District Tournament top seed was on the line as the Sayre Spartans and Bryan Station Defenders came into Tuesday's game 2-0 in district seed play.