By Annie Walker

Ashley Wenz Columbus Fury OPP Post-Match News Conference Fury 3 Thrill 1 2 26 2024.mp3

2 26 2024

COLUMBUS—The Columbus Fury (3-2) earned their third-straight win on Monday night against the Vegas Thrill (2-5) in Nationwide Arena. Each set was tightly contested with the Fury taking the first set, 25-23. After falling behind by 10 points in the second set, Columbus battled back but fell short, 25-22, to go into the break tied at 1-1. The Fury used their late momentum from the second set to take the third and fourth sets to earn another win at home.

Set 1

The Fury offense started out strong with three of their first five points scored coming from kills. With the score tied at seven, a long rally ended with a kill from María Schlegel to give Columbus a huge momentum boost. The teams continued to trade points with the Fury able to push their lead to 13-10 on a kill from Reagan Cooper to force a Vegas timeout. Rainelle Jones put down back-to-back kills late in the set to give the Fury the 22-20 lead while Ashley Wenz put down her first kill of the night to give Columbus the 25-23 win in set one.

Set 2

Columbus struggled with their serve receive early in set two, allowing the Thrill to jump out to an early 5-1 lead and forcing a timeout from coach Pérez. Vegas would go on to open up a dominant 17-6 lead before the Fury answered with a couple runs of their own. Columbus was able to cut the lead to 20-13 before going on a significant run to keep the set competitive. Behind the serve of Gabby Blossom, the Fury ran off the next six points to cut the Vegas lead to 20-19. Despite the comeback attempt, the Fury dropped set two, 25-22, to head into the break tied at 1-1.

Set 3

The Thrill built another early lead in set three, going up 8-4 on an ace. Columbus responded with kills from Kaitlyn Hord and Samantha Drechsel to cut the Vegas lead to one. The Fury took their first lead of the set, 10-9, after winning back-to-back long rallies on kills from Cooper and Hord. Ray Santos would score on consecutive setter dumps to give the Fury a 19-16 lead late, but Vegas came back to tie the set at 19. Cooper gave Columbus the 24-20 lead with her 13th kill of the match and Hord put down her 10th kill of the night to give the Fury a 2-1 set lead.

Set 4

The final set was closely contested throughout with neither team leading by more than two points at any time. The Thrill held a 22-21 lead late and the Fury answered with a 4-1 run to close out the set and the match. Jones got the run started with a stuff block to tie the set at 22. Vegas took the next point then the Fury answered with the final three points on a block and two kills from Wenz to earn the four-set win.

Standout Stats

• Reagan Cooper notched her second 20-plus kill outing of the year with 21 for the match, including eight kills in the fourth set alone.
• Ashley Wenz saw limited action in the match but went 4-8, hitting 50 percent and a timely block late in the match.
• Valeria Léon tallied a season-high 16 digs and eight assists.
• Rainelle Jones and Kaitlyn Hord also had season-high numbers in kills with seven and 11, respectively.
• Ray Santos notched her second double-double of the year with 38 assists and 16 digs.

Up Next

The Fury head back on the road this weekend. The team will be at Orlando on Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m.

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