By Cort Reynolds
MIDDLE POINT - The visiting Ada volleyball team won a four-set battle at Lincolnview Thursday night to secure at least a tie for their third straight Northwest Conference title.
The Lady Bulldogs won 25-16, 25-17, 21-25, 25-17 to improve to 13-7 overall and stay atop the NWC at 7-0 with one match to go. The Lancers drop to 10-10 and 3-4 in the NWC with the loss.
The Lady Bulldogs have won 15 consecutive league matches over the past two seasons.
Their 2017 regular season and league finale will be a title-deciding showdown at Columbus Grove Tuesday, Oct. 10. Ada clinched the outright 2016 NWC title at Grove last year in a five-set win between NWC unbeatens, and shared the conference crown in 2015.
Crestview and Grove are tied for second in the NWC at 6-1, one match behind Ada. The Knights lost to Ada in five sets, but defeated CG to provide their lone league loss.
If Grove beats Ada, there will almost certainly be a three-way tie for the title since Crestview plays at last-place Spencerville in its final league match. An Ada win would mean a second consecutive outright crown for the purple and gold.
Ada senior Melina Woods hammered 34 kills, made 19 digs and served two aces to lead the victors at Lincolnview.
Senior setter Maddie Gossard dished out 28 assists and served four aces to go with 10 digs and three blocks. She now has 1,034 career assists. Sophomore Sidney Gossard also passed out 14 assists, made a dozen digs and served up four aces.
Senior libero Olivia Alexander came up with 20 digs while senior defensive specialist Kaiti Newland amassed 15 digs. Junior Raina England contributed four kills and four digs.
Ada has won five straight matches since they lost to Russia in the third-place match at the Minster Invitational.
The Bulldog reserves also beat Lincolnview to improve to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the NWC.
CG handed Ada its last league defeat in the NWC finale in 2015, which forced the purple and gold to share the title with Paulding
