MAROA - Between resounding kills from Haley Fitzgerald and Alexis Clemons were dinks and dunks from everyone on the St. Teresa volleyball team in its 25-23, 24-26, 25-23 win at Maroa-Forsyth on Thursday. And all the while - at least after they returned the serve - shone the defense.

The Bulldogs (8-4, 2-1 Okaw Valley) switched gears seamlessly throughout the match, weathered a couple of letdowns and found just the right touch when they needed it.

"We made adjustments when we needed to. Our hitting was on at first but then they certainly got on mine. But once they backed up, the middle was open and we took advantage of that," Fitzgerald said. "I'm glad we did. We definitely needed this win."

The Bulldogs just lost to undefeated Shelbyville and had no intention of falling another game back of the frontrunners.

"It's such a big rivalry between us and (Maroa), that it's always nice to get that win, but the conference aspects are really important," Fitzgerald added.

The momentum bounced back and forth never straying too far away from either team.

Coach Jay McAtee watched his team give up a big lead in Game 1 before pulling out a win, then kind of slog through Game 2. He thought the only game really played well by his team was the last one.

"We really didn't play very smart until the end there," he said. "We rolled at the ball but not soft enough. It seemed like the girls weren't really ready to get into a battle with them until the second game."

Clemons, a freshman, was big on offense for St. Teresa, hammering eight kills. Emily Less added five kills, three blocks and two aces, and Fitzgerald led the way with 10 kills and 20 digs. She kicked in two aces as well.

But it was more the timing of the points Fitzgerald earned that proved the difference. She closed Game 1 with a kill. She helped bring the Bulldogs back in the second game with three late kills, and she finished the match with her 10th slam of the night. In that final game, Fitzgerald had an ace to start it, tipped in two points and smashed four kills.

The Trojans (9-3, 1-2) meanwhile, kept battling, they just couldn't quite get over the hump. In a loss to Clinton earlier this week, coach Jamie Florey didn't see that fight.

"Tonight there was some passion. They fought back every time, I'm proud of them for that," Florey said. "I'm still trying to get across to them that killer instinct. It just isn't there yet. We've got kids that can hit it, swing at the ball. We're trying to finesse a point and we should be hammering at it."

Val Sobol led the Trojans with 12 kills, Bridget Bowman added nine and Jessica Wenskunas had five. Sammy Peebles served three aces and Abbey Cole had five blocks.

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