Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

After doing their impersonation of Rip Van Winkle to start the game, Ironton finally woke up and became the Lady Fighting Tigers.
After falling behind in the first set of their volleyball game on Monday, Ironton woke up and beat the Raceland Lady Rams in straight sets, 28-26, 25-21, 25-12.
Ironton trailed the volleyball game 13-6 in the first set when they began their comeback.
“The girls showed a lot of character and discipline this evening,” said Ironton coach Beth Campbell.
“Raceland came out with a plan and was executing nicely under head coach Sarah Linn. We were down 13-6 the first set and the girls finally woke up and started to slowly chip away under the leadership of the seniors.”
Offensively, Lexi Wise led Ironton with 17 kills. Samantha LaFon had 10 and Marybeth Burton five.
Ali White added a career-high 28 setting assists and also had a strong game behind the service line with 15 points including six aces.
McKenzie Cremeens had 12 points with four aces, LaFon eight points while Peighton Rowe, Riley Schreck, Burton and Wise had three each.
“Marybeth Burton and M’Kenzie McMaster did a tremendous job at the net. They combined for 10 blocks,” said Campbell.
“Raceland has a lot of depth and wouldn’t stop swinging. They would keep throwing different stuff at us and finally our girls began to really defend their court.”
Wise also had 10 digs, Cremeens nine and White seven to help defensively.
Raceland was led by Madison Whaley with eight points while Madyson Smith had seven and Alandra Vanlandingham added five.
The Ironton jayvees won in straight sets, 25-23, 25-21. Kaylee Blankenship had 11 points to lead both teams, Malea Delawder scored 7, Kiandra Martin 5 and Jordyn Koerper had 4 points for the Lady Tigers.
Ironton (7-3) visits Hurricane, W.Va., on Tuesday in varsity-only games with Hurricane and St. Albans and then travels to South Point on Thursday for an Ohio Valley Conference game.