North Canton 24-25-25-18-17, Louisville 26-23-18-25-15

The Louisville Lady Leopards put together a furious rally, but the visiting North Canton Hoover Vikings prevailed in five sets 24-26, 25-23, 25-18, 18-25, 17-15 in the season opener Saturday Afternoon.

Emily Hollifield led the Lady Leopards with 11 Blocks & 26 Digs. Also recording game-highs for Louisville were Brynn Guist with 18 kills, Haley Shadle with 49 assists, and Grace Jackson with 15 points serving. Jackson also tallied 2 aces.

Trailing a set, Louisville played strong to take the fourth set 25-18 and knot the match at 2-2. In the fifth and final set, the Lady Leopards fell behind early and faced an 11-4 deficit. They rallied back, but North Canton recorded a key point to give them a 14-10 advantage. Thanks to the excellent serving by Rachel Mathie, the game was tied four match points later. Following the 14-14 tie, the two squads exchanged the next four points before the Vikings took the game.

North Canton was led offensively by Paxton Reisinger who was the top server with 11 points and 3 aces. Katrina Popa also recorded a team-high 12 kills and Lindsay Brumbaugh finished with a team-high 43 assists. Defensively, both Tiffany Bentler and Miranda Zoldan had 5 blocks each.

In the first set, Louisville trailed 22-19 before rallying back to tie the game at 23-23. They eventually claimed the set 26-24. In the second set, the Leopards found themselves trailing 21-20 but this time it was the Vikings that mustered up the clutch points to win 25-23. Hoover carried that momentum into the third set which they won convincingly 25-18.

The Vikings have now defeated the Leopards in each of the past five seasons. The last time the two squads went to five sets was on August 29, 2009. Louisville prevailed that day 25-20, 25-17, 25-27, 13-25, 15-13.

UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next travel to Lake to take on the Blue Streaks on Thursday, August 21. Freshman & JV will begin at 5:30 PM followed by Varsity at approximately 7:00 PM.

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JV: Louisville 25-23-25, North Canton 10-25-18

The Louisville Junior Varsity Squad defeated North Canton in three sets 25-10, 23-25, 25-18 in their season opener Saturday.

The Leopards pulled out to an early 10-4 advantage in the first set before the Vikings scored four straight points to cut the lead to 10-8. Louisville answered with a run of 10 straight points spear-headed by the serving of Sarah Lairson to take a 20-8 lead. Louisville eventually won the set 25-10.

In the second set, the Leopards went ahead early again and looked to be pulling away when they went up 16-9. However, Hoover rallied to take the set 25-23.

In the final set, Louisville faced a similar scenario as they took command early and again went up 16-9. This time the Lady Leopards finished the job and took the game 25-18 to take the match 2-1.

Abbey Berkshire, Georgia Kiko, and Sarah Lairson threw down several kills to lead Lousiville. Most of the time it was Paige Haren who set the table for them.

Freshman: Louisville 25-25, North Canton 20-19

In the opening match of the season, the Lady Leopards rallied in both sets to down the Lady Vikings 25-20, 25-19.

In the first set, Louisville found themselves facing a 5-0 deficit immediately but rallied back to take the set 25-20. In the second set, the Leopards faced another early deficit 6-1 and eventually trailed 17-12. An 11-0 run by the girls in Blue & White gave them a 23-17 lead and they eventually prevailed 25-19.