HALE -Oct. 1, 2009 - After the first two games of Thursday's North Star League volleyball match, it looked as though Hillman was going to make quick work of Hale and get off to a quick start on its return home.

The Eagles didn't cooperate, though, bouncing back to stun the Tigers in a five-game thriller, 18-25, 12-25, 25-16, 25-21, 17-15.

"I told the girls I wasn't ready to go home after that second game," said Hale coach Heather Chrivia. "I said I hoped they weren't, either. We kind of played like it those first two games.

"I've only ever had a team go to five games a couple of times and we hadn't had much luck. We didn't get down on ourselves and found a way to pull it out."

For awhile in that fifth game it appeared that luck wouldn't be with Hale this time, either. Trailing 4-3 in the shortened first-to-15 set, a Hilman serve was sailing out of bounds, but clipped off of Hale's Stacey Eno's foot as she tried to dodge out of the way. Instead of tying the score, Hillman went up two and retained serve, converting another ace and a kill by Amber Kolcan to make it 7-3.

Hale came back to tie it up with a kill and tip by Laura Sidebottom and a Lindsay Weaver ace, but that unlucky point loomed large when Hillman went on top 14-12.

A Hillman service error bailed the Eagles out on what could have been the match-winning point, but after that Hale took care of business without benefit of any Tiger errors. Kelsey Reilly opened with an ace, and after Hillman's Courtney Jones again put the Tigers on the brink of victory, Sidebottom scored two of the final three points on a pair of well-placed tips. Stacey Eno added an ace in the final run.

"Laura just had a great game," Chrivia said. "She did a great job of hitting and of finding their openings. Halley was just flying all over the floor going for it. She must have had six digs in that final game.

"Kelsey came alive and really started putting the ball down towards the end of the night. We couldn't have been anywhere without Stacey's great serving."

Hillman had its way in the first two games as Alissa Clink set up Jones for a large portion of the Tigers' points.  Hale only trailed once in the third and fourth games. The Eagles had to hold on after building a 13-2 margin in Game 4, as Hillman crept back to within 22-20 at one point and seemed to have the momentum heading into Game 5.

With the win Hale improved to 4-3 (5-7-1 overall) while Hillman fell to 4-4 (3-4).

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Hale Stats: Laura Sidebottom 17 kills, 20 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks; Kelsey Reilly 9 kills, 16 digs, 3 aces; Stacey Eno 25/25 serving, 4 aces, 25 assists; Halley Wolkens 100% serving, 21 digs, 2 kills; Lindsay Weaver 13 digs, 3 aces; Lizz Farrand 1 dig, 1 kill; Jessica Labranche 1 dig.