By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Down two sets to one and trailing late in fourth set, Yukon needed to find a way to dig deep and “weather the storm.”
The Millerettes found a way behind Bri Worth and Addie Wimmer to come back to tie the match, then take the fifth and deciding set to win 3-2 over the Oklahoma City Storm, Tuesday night on the YHS court.
Yukon won the match 25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 25-23 and 15-12 to improve to 3-6 on the season.
The Millerettes were down 21-17 in the fourth set and already trailing 2-1 in sets when head coach Rachel Allred called a time out.
YHS came out of the time out with a renewed energy, rallied to take the lead and used a Worth kill to win the set and force a fifth and deciding set.
“The second and third match were example of what we don’t want to fall into those bad habits of playing frustrated, getting into a slump, especially in serve-receive,” Allred said. “I told them the reason we have those two and threes is to prove we can have those four and fives.
“That is what we are going to take out of tonight is we can come back from being down,” she said. “You can fix the little things and you can come back out with more passion and fight and finish strong. I’m proud of them from gettin down those two, it is hard to come back from being down two, especially two sloppy losses, and coming back and finishing strong.”
The Millerettes did have to make some line-up changes with their starting libero (Baylie Thiel) out and rightside hitter Rachel Kittell out with an injury. Allred had to adjust her line-up, but was happy with how players stepped in and filled those spots.
“Gabbi (Mobarak) came in and did a great job for us at libero and Kaylee (Coleman) came in and played well as the rightside hitter,” she said. “It has taken getting some used to finding that trust that is there with the starters., But, they are adjusting well and playing good with it.
“The Storm is always a good team and some of our girls play club ball with and against their players,” she added. “It has always been a tough match, we lost to them last year and it seems we always go four or five with them. They are very good competition and and that is why I keep them on our schedule.
“They run a very fast offense, our blocking struggled in our second and third match and we need more teams like that on our schedule, because that’s what we will see when we get to the Edmond and Deer Creek teams.”
Trailing 21-17 in the fourth set, the Millerettes made their comeback sparked by Worth. The Millerette senior outside hitter had three kills in a row to make it 21-20. Kashlei VO served an ace to tie 21-21 and Katelynn Biswell tipped the ball to an open spot for a 22-21 lead.
With the Millerettes leading 24-23, Worth drilled the ball to the court past two Storm defenders for the win, 25-23.
In the fifth and deciding set, the match was back and forth until a pair of Wimmer kills opened an 11-8 lead. The Storm did come back to cut the lead to one, 13-12, but Wimmer had a kill, then finished the match serving an ace.
“This was a good starting point for us as we head into the strong part of our schedule,” Allred said. “Our whole goal is every game we want to make it better for the next. We want to get better and peak for that playoff time in October.
“Every game has been learning experience,” she said. “When we lost to Norman North, there were things we learned from that one. The Westmoore win was a big one and confidence builder for us and overcoming the deficit tonight, everything we have to focus on what we learn from it and get stronger from it.”
Worth finished the match with 11 kills and Wimmer had 10.
YHS will host Norman Tuesday and Moore Thursday in Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference contests at 6 p.m.
