October 24, 2009 - PIQUA
The helpless look on senior Alyssa Angle's face as the ball dropped for the final point of the evening told the entire story for the Covington Lady Buccs on Saturday in the sectional final against Riverside.

That story was a night of frustration as Covington dropped three straight games by the scores of 25-11, 25-18 and 25-23.

And the frustration started from the outset as leading hitter Caitlyn Crawford suffered a leg injury moments into the first game and had to watch her team struggle while leaning against the wall with crutches.

Also, with freshman defensive specialist Shelby Waag out with illness, the Lady Buccs already entered the contest undermanned, which normally leads to disaster in tournament play.

After Crawford's injury Covington couldn't get anything going offensively or defensively in the first game. The result was a 25-11 victory for Riverside, which gave the Pirates all the momentum and got its crowd into the game.

Covington fell behind early in the second game, but managed to close the gap to 17-15 with a run of excellent serving and timely hitting. But the Pirates kept the pressure on by building a 2-0 lead with a 25-18 win.

Showing the heart and determination that has led to a 19-5 record coming into the contest, Covington scratched and clawed its way to a 22-20 lead late in the third game. But the attempt to extent the match to a fourth game was dashed by Riverside as it scored five of the final six points of the match for a 25-23 victory and a three-game sweep of Covington.

The loss drops Covington's record to 19-6 on the season and also ends the outstanding careers of seniors Alyssa Angle, Rachael Rindler and Shelby Hoblit.