The Orlando Valkyries lost 3-1 to the Columbus Fury on Sunday at Addition Financial Arena. The Valkyries have dropped five straight home matches, with their only home win being on opening night.
“I thought that we were awesome in the third set and I think that we put ourselves in the position to win the first and the second too,” Orlando Valkyries coach Amy Pauly said. “We made some pretty boneheaded plays there at the end in the red zone, and one of our keys to tonight was being the better team after 20. We knew that they were gonna play us close. This is a very talented team. They have a lot of arms, a lot of firepower. They play super hard. They were hungry for a win, and bottom line is, we just didn’t execute after 20.”
Ohio native and Fury opposite hitter Raina Terry led the match with 19 kills, while Naya Shime led the Valkyries with 13 kills.
Orlando was without opposite hitter Brittnay Abercrombie (foot) and setter Chompoo Guedpard (finger) for the fourth game in a row. The Valkyries’ opening night lineup have only played four matches together this season.
“[The injuries are] really hard if I’m being honest,” Pauly said. “But we built this team for things like this, and I tell them all the time, I’m gonna coach you the same, and I trust you guys to go out there and execute and win. I think that would be a really bad excuse for me to make right now, because I think enough of the people have been on the floor together for about four matches in a row now that we should have been playing better volleyball today.”
Set one saw the Valkyries jump out to an 8-4 lead heading into the first media timeout, with four of Orlando’s points coming off of Columbus errors. However, the Fury would respond with a 9-4 run to take the lead, including three kills by Terry.
Orlando came out of a timeout and went on a 6-1 run of their own to reclaim the lead which saw two Bre Kelly kills and two Fury attack errors. Columbus tied the game with a 3-0 run and the teams traded blows into overtime.
The Fury would come out of set one victorious after back-to-back errors by the Valkyries. Hannah Maddux led Orlando with four kills in the set, while Terry led the set with seven kills for Columbus.
The second set saw the back-and-forth nature continue, with the game being tied five times through the first 10 points. Orlando would then go on an 8-3 run off the back of four unscored errors by Columbus.
After a 5-2 run by the Fury, Orlando outside hitter Charitie Luper checked into the match for the first time in three matches. Despite her appearance, Columbus went on a 3-1 run to reclaim the lead.
The teams returned to trading points, with no team leading by more than two points for the remainder of the set. Columbus once again led going into set point, but a service error sent the set into overtime again.
Columbus then recorded back-to-back kills to pick up the set win. Kelly led the set with five kills and Terry once again led the Fury with four kills.
“I think Bre is really competitive,” Pauly said. “I think that she has extremely high expectations for herself, not just game-to-game, but in her very long volleyball career that is ahead of her.”
Trailing two sets to none at half, the Valkyries needed to win to avoid being swept. Kelly started the scoring for Orlando, sparking a 6-2 run to start the set. Columbus would answer with a 4-0 run to tie.
The teams would remain knotted through the next 10 points, but the Valkyries would go on a 7-2 run to take the lead and grow it to five. Orlando would carry the momentum to a set victory, winning 25-18. Valkyries captain Kaz Brown led the set with five kills and Fury outside hitter Megan Lush had four kills.
“Our mentality [was different in the third set],” Pauly said. “I don’t think it was anything other than that. I mean, maybe a little bit of, I would say actual execution, which is how you score points. You have to execute, but the whole match, I thought we served well, we passed well, but for some reason, it took until the third set to really get our offense clicking.”
Columbus started the fourth set on an 8-4 run, with Fury hitters Regan Pittman-Nelson and Lush recording two kills each. Orlando would respond with a 5-0 run to take the lead Courtney Schwan and Shime each scoring two points.
The Fury finished the contest with a 17-8 run to end the Valkyries’ comeback hopes. Terry accounted for six of Columbus’ points during the span, ending with the most kills in the set.
At home this season, the Valkyries are 1-5, but they are 5-1 on the road. Across the MLV, only two teams (Indy and San Diego) have positive home records.
“I think the travel is, if you look across the board, every team has an injury,” Pauly said. “And I think that it’s been just really challenging to find rhythm being at home. I think it’s hard to, there’s almost this sense of when you’re on the road, you have a better routine than when you are at home. But really, at the end of the day, I don’t know. That’s such a crazy stat, and maybe, maybe the pressure is getting to everybody at home that could be piece, a piece of it.”
Next up
The Valkyries will look to bounce back on the road against the Dallas Pulse on Friday. The Pulse defeated the Valkyries in Orlando earlier this season.
“Something’s not clicking,” Pauly said. “So we’ll have to kind of go to the drawing board there, but it’s challenging.”
First serve is set for 8 p.m. EST on Feb. 27.