COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Columbus Fury pushed the Indy Ignite to the limit Saturday night in a highly contested five-set thriller, 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, 22-25, 22-20, showcasing a match filled with momentum swings, long rallies, and late-set drama that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
Flormarie Heredia Colon mad her professional debut and finished with 25 kills, eight digs, three blocks and two service aces to lead the Fury. Raina Terry had a another big match, with 26 kills, while hitting .328, and adding six digs and five blocks.
Ashley Evans dished out 57 assists and added 12 digs for yet another double-double.
The Fury opened the match on fire as Heredia Colon, who recorded the first point of the night and fueled an early 5-0 run after Indy took a brief 2-0 lead. Heredia Colon finished the opening set with six points, while having two service aces, as Columbus controlled much of the early momentum. Despite the hot start, Indy responded with runs of its own, tying the set at 12 and maintaining a slim couple of points down the stretch. A late Fury challenge for a floor touch was unsuccessful and the Indy Ignite to close out the set 25-23.
Even with some hard moments throughout the game, head coach Angel Perez said the coaching staff and team are building a culture of resilience to keep going even when times are tough.
“Those are situations that happen in the game. It's one point. I think we've been trying to build a mentality of always focusing on the next contact or the next play. And to try to have that goldfish mentality, where we forget about what happened in five seconds and move forward to the next action,” Perez said. “And I think that's what we're trying to build. And I think the team showed that, we were resilient. Every point, we fought, every point we lost by the minimum. Again, on a fifth set, 22-20 could have gone anywhere. And it was unlucky we ended up on the losing side. But I want to take all the positive things that we did and move forward for next week.”
Set two was very close from start to finish, featuring multiple ties and momentum swings. Columbus leaned on middle blocker Abby Walker, outside hitter Raina Terry, and Heredia Colon to keep pace. At the same time, middle blocker Rainelle Jones made her season debut with the Fury at the net during a critical late-set stretch. After trailing 22-20, the Fury had a good run with a block from Jones and a kill from Heredia Colon before closing the set 26-24 on a Heredia Colon block.
Indy took control in the third set, opening a 7-3 advantage and never losing momentum. Although the Fury clawed back to tie the score at 15, Indy responded with a decisive 6-3 closing run to take the set 25-18.
Columbus answered in the fourth, jumping out to a 4-0 lead behind Walker and Terry and extending it to 11-4 as Indy struggled with attack errors. The Ignite mounted a late comeback to tie the set at 19, but timely kills from Heredia Colon and Terry, along with a key block from Walker, helped the Fury secure the set 25-22 and force a decisive fifth.
The final set delivered the intensity that kept both Ignite and Fury fans on their feet. The extended tiebreak kept everyone on edge, with clutch plays from Jones, Walker, and Terry that kept the Fury in the game, but it was not enough in Indy’s narrow 22-20 win.
Outside hitter Raina Terry played her first game as a right side hitter and enjoyed having a support system around her to play her best.
“It’s definitely a learning experience, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes for us to pull out a win, and I have an awesome setter who's been working with me and giving me feedback on the block,” Terry said. “So, it's been great to have people have my back while learning this new position.”
Up Next
The Fury return to action on the road against the Omaha Supernovas on Thursday, January 22, at 8 p.m. EST, aiming to bounce back from a pair of five-set losses.