Volleyball: Leipsic battles back to defeat Miller City and notch PCL title

MILLER CITY – Year after year, the Putnam County League volleyball title runs through Leipsic.

And for many years, Leipsic has come out on top.

On Tuesday night, Miller City gave Leipsic all it could handle. However, the Vikings battled back from a 2-1 set deficit to defeat Miller City in five sets – 16-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10 – and notch its seventh consecutive PCL title.

Leipsic will share this year’s PCL title with Ottoville.

“That’s a heck of a PCL title game, right there,” Leipsic coach Brent Newell said. “It was everything we thought it would be. Miller City and Leipsic battle every year in volleyball. We always know that it’s going to be close sets, and we were prepared for that tonight. I give both teams a lot of credit.”

This marks Leipsic’s 13th PCL crown in the past 14 seasons.

“We were down two sets to one. We made a nice little run there toward the end of the third set. … We were down by six points, and we came back and lost by two, 25-23,” Newell said. “We had a lot of momentum going into that fourth set, even though we lost that third set. We scored like six out of the last seven, eight points of that game. So, in the fourth set, we built a nice lead early on – and the same thing with the fifth set. It was just an exciting game. I’m very proud of our girls. They’ve been PCL champions for many years, and I’m very happy for them.”

It was an extra special night for Leipsic junior Danaysia Danzy. In the second set, Danzy recorded the 1,000th kill of her career. Danzy ended the night with 30 kills, 17 digs and three blocks. She now has 1,020 kills.

“She’s a special player. Having over 1,000 kills as a junior just shows how special of a player she really is,” Newell said. “I’m glad she’s on my team. I would not want to try to defend her. She had very good ball control tonight. Her angles that she hit were sharp. She’s our offensive leader. We look to get her the ball. The other team usually knows where the ball is going to go, and she still has fantastic nights.”

Danzy received plenty of help from her teammates on Tuesday.

Morgan Apple had 11 kills and 13 digs. Jazelle Perez had nine kills. Jaelynn Siefer recorded 26 digs and two aces. Karmyn Brough dished out 50 assists for the Vikings.

Morgan Verhoff led the way for Miller City with 17 kills. Cloe Kuhlman recorded eight kills. Payton Michel had 15 assists and served up two aces. Libby Erford recorded 31 digs for the Wildcats.

Leipsic will have an opportunity to notch another conference title on Wednesday when it takes on Arlington. A win against Arlington will give Leipsic the outright Blanchard Valley Conference crown.

Newell said that competing in the competitive PCL has helped his team prepare for the upcoming postseason tournament.

“PCL volleyball is really good. We have some really good teams. It’s going to be a very tough district with the PCL schools in the tournament,” he said.

Leipsic 3, Miller City 2

Kills: Miller City – Morgan Verhoff 17; Leipsic – Danaysia Danzy 30

Assists: Miller City – Payton Michel 15; Leipsic – Karmyn Brough 50

Digs: Miller City – Libby Erford 31; Leipsic -Jaelynn Siefer 26

Aces: Miller City – Payton Michel 2; Leipsic – Jaelynn Siefer 2