The Baltic Bulldogs had their 10-match winning streak snapped by the Lennox Orioles in Lennox on Friday, October 20th. Baltic hadn’t lost since falling to Chester in the Big East Conference Tournament on September 9th. The Orioles won the match in five sets by scores of 19-25, 25-19, 15-25, 25-22, and 15-11.
The Bulldogs opened the match with a 10-1 run in the first set. Lennox got within four points a couple of times at 13-9 and 18-14. Baltic, however, stopped any rally and won the first set 25-19. The second set started with tie scores of 3-3 and 8-8. The Orioles went on an 8-1 run to go ahead 16-9. Baltic couldn’t get much closer as Lennox won the second set 25-19.
The Bulldogs bounced back with a 6-0 run to start the third set. They continued to grow that lead to 17-5 before winning the third set 25-15. The fourth set started with a 3-3 tie. Lennox went ahead 7-3, but Baltic tied the score 7-7. The two teams traded points to a 12-12 tie. The Orioles scored the next three points only to see Baltic score the following three to tie the score 15-15. The two teams traded three point runs again, and the score remained tied 18-18. The Orioles got the last run of the set at 5-1 to put them in front 23-19. They would finish the fourth set with a 25-22 win.
The momentum of the late run in the fourth set carried into the fifth set. Lennox started the final set with a 6-0 run. Baltic rallied with a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 8-7, but the Orioles went on a 3-0 run to extend their lead to 11-7. That little spurt was enough to keep them in front to the 15-11 victory.
