GALLIPOLIS - What started out as two easy Gallia Academy volleyball wins quickly turned around as Ironton fought back and made it a game.

Up 2-0 in rather easy sets, the Lady Tigers battled back and returned the favor, easily winning game three. But after the two teams traded the lead, and the momentum, throughout the third game, Gallia Academy managed to find just enough to pull out the 3-1 win and defeat Ironton Thursday night at Gallia Academy High School.

The Lady Angels won game one 25-16, pulling away from a closely contested start to the game to take the victory. Consecutive service points from Sarah Cochran and Ryann Leslie helped Gallia Academy turn a close 7-5 contest into a 15-6 game, never looking back from there for the win.

The home team then made quick work of the Lady Tigers in game two, easily winning 25-9 thanks to a strong run of points from Lindsey Niday. With the game close at 6-4, Leslie again lended her services to push the Gallia Academy lead to four.

Ironton attempted to make a run at the early Angel lead, coming as close as 12-9 before Niday took over. Niday scored 13 consecutive points to end the match, easily pushing her team to the win.

And then the Lady Angels got a little sloppy.

Ironton seemed unfazed in game three, jumping out the quick lead and breaking up each scoring run Gallia Academy tried to string together. In fact, the Lady Angels only managed four service points in the set and never held the lead as the visitors from Lawrence County took the game 25-15.

With the rather easy third set going the way of the Lady Tigers, Gallia Academy regrouped and made every effort to keep this game from reaching five.

The Lady Angels jumped out to the early lead in the third set, but never had full control of the game. Ironton closed in on each small lead Gallia Academy managed to get, eventually equaling eight total ties in the set.

Gallia jumped to a 10-7 lead, followed by a strong run by Ironton to close that gap to 14-14. The Lady Angels then went on another run to pull ahead 18-15, with the visitors once again filling the gap with another tie at 18-18.

The final tie came at 20-20, but after a Gallia Academy time out, the Lady Angels went on a run and eventually pulled out the win thanks to consecutive points from Alexis Geiger to give Gallia the 25-20 victory.

Niday led the way with 16 points on the evening. Leslie added eight points, Katie Taylor had seven points, Geiger had six points, Alex Swisher had five potions, Sarah Cochran had three points and Ashley Chapman had a point.

The Lady Angels will return to action 5:15 p.m. Monday when they travel to face Chillicothe.