Volleyball Recap: Payton Stroud's Big Game Can't Quite Lead West Columbus over East Bladen

After flying high against Lakewood last Tuesday, West Columbus came back down to earth. The Vikings came up short against the East Bladen Eagles on Tuesday, falling 3-0. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Eagles this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 3-1 on September 4th.

The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 25-14, 25-19.

Payton Stroud

Digs

09/30/25 @ East Bladen	22
09/23/25 @ Lakewood	10
09/18/25 vs Union	13

West Columbus' loss came despite a true team effort with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Payton Stroud, who had 22 digs. Stroud has been hot recently, having posted ten or more digs the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Zoey Williamson, who had 25 digs.

Leading East Bladen to victory were Mileigh Martin and Taylor Dowless. Martin had seven digs and five aces, while Dowless had five kills, five digs, and two aces. That's the most aces Martin has posted over her last seven matches.

West Columbus' defeat dropped their record down to 3-10. As for East Bladen, they moved to 4-13 with that victory, which also ended their four-match losing streak.

West Columbus wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 3-1 loss against Hobbton on the 2nd. As for East Bladen, they have also already played their next contest, a 3-0 win against Union on the 2nd.