Lehighton's Schuylkill League Division I volleyball contest against Jim Thorpe might not have gone exactly the way Lady Indians' coach T.J. O'Connor expected, but the end result was all that he could have asked for.

Trailing 2-1 after the third game, Lehighton rallied by taking to the next two en route to a 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-8 victory over the Lady Olympians."We knew Jim Thorpe had a really strong program," O'Connor said. "They have two really good coaches (head coach Erin Kuhn, assistant Caitlyn Thompson) and we knew they were having a really good second half of the season."So coming in, we obviously hoped to perform well. I don't think you ever expect a five-game match. However, we're very happy with the result."And on a night where Lehighton honored its seniors with a pregame ceremony, O'Connor praised his squad for having composure throughout such a back-and-forth match."We have really good kids, and we're proud of our student-athletes here," the coach said. "Every huddle where we would come in, whether it was on a positive note or a negative note, we kept preaching that we were here for five."I told them that we were going to be here for a while. It says a lot about their personalities that, on a big night like this, they can come out, be focused and fight for that fifth game and then carry that momentum into the fifth game from the first serve."Momentum seemed to swing from one team to the other from the outset.Lehighton (10-6, 6-4) was able to prevail in a first game that featured eight ties, with the final one coming as late at 14-all, after which the Lady Indians scored 11 of the final 17 points.But Jim Thorpe (5-10, 2-7) responded by turning the tables and taking the next two games in equally thrilling fashion.With the score tied 23-23 in the second and 22-22 in third, the Lady Olympians were able to score a combined five of the final six points in both games to hold off Lehighton rallies and take a slim 2-1 advantage over the Lady Indians.Undaunted, Lehighton charged back in the fourth, jumping out to an 11-3 lead and never trailing to force a deciding fifth set.The Lady Indians once again up to the challenge when the pressure was on, taking a commanding 10-3 lead before putting the match away with a 5-2 run.Despite playing hard, the narrow defeat served as a reminder to Kuhn that her team still has work to do in order to win close matches."They started off a little slow, but in the second two (games) they picked it up a little bit," she said. "But they have a thing with just following through at the end and keeping their momentum going."They can keep it going, but after a certain bit, it sort of falls off. We've been working on playing with confidence all season, and we still have work to do."Jim Thorpe was led by Riley Carroll, who had a team-high 24 assists to go along with 12 digs. Erin Shigo notched 18 kills and 18 digs, while freshman Alex McGinley recorded 20 digs.Lehighton's upperclassmen certainly picked an opportune time to step up, something O'Connor took note of afterwards."I can't say enough about my senior girls," the coach said of Holly Hinkle, Brianna Karpowicz and Michaela Petrucci. "I've had them for four years now, and they're three of the hardest workers I've ever had on the team."They're here year-round training. Even though they have other responsibilities, they always make time for volleyball. So to see them have a night like this really means a lot to me because they're fantastic kids that we're really going to miss. But we're happy to send them off this way"Petrucci notches 20 kills, while Higgins recorded nine digs and Karpowicz tallied six assists.Sophomores Katie Higgins and Victoria Eads-Rodriguez also had big games, with Higgins racking up 27 digs and 14 kills and Eads-Rodriguez registering 30 assists.