State Final Scores 2007

Division I
Mother of Mercy def. Mount Notre Dame 16-25, 25-12, 26-28, 25-19, 15-11

Division II
Toledo Central Catholic def. Bishop Hartley 25-19, 26-24, 25-17

Division III
Lima Central Catholic def. Albany Alexander 25-27, 25-17, 25-15, 25-20

Division IV
Marion Local def. Norwalk St. Paul 25-14, 25-22, 25-16

Division I/IV highlights

Division I and IV highlights

With the tournament matches lasting almost eleven and a half hours on Friday, it doesn’t leave much time for writing and sleeping. So for now, we’ll just go with a few highlights in Division I and IV.

Division I
Mount Notre Dame defeated Magnificat 25-23, 25-12, 25-19 in the first match. In game one there were eight ties and five lead changes. Magnificat scored the first three points, two on kills by 6’1” middle Michelle Matia, and went up 5-1 on kills by Kristen Kidd. The Blue Streaks continued their lead up to 9-6, when the Cougars scored four, three on Magnificat miscues.
The scoring and the lead went back and forth until Cougar sophomore Marissa Otto tied the game at 17. With libero Abbie Rees digging everything in sight, Mount Notre Dame moved ahead 23-17. 6’0” junior Amanda Wilken scored points 22 and 23. Michelle Chakirelis scored a kill and a block for Magnificat, but 6’1” junior Jen Meyer spiked the Cougars to a 24-19 lead. Things got dicey as Blue Streak junior Kara Stilphen spiked a point, the Cougars committed two errors and Rachel Gulasey served an ace. But a Magnificat spike that was blocked out of bounds was ruled to have not been touched by MND, but been in the net, thus ending the game
Mount Notre Dame led all the way in games two and three. Rachael Adams scored five kills, two aces and a block in game two.
Rachel Rohlfs and Kristen DuBroy handled the setting for Mount Notre Dame and Magnificat, respectively.

Mother of Mercy downed Mentor 25-10, 20-25, 25-16, 25-11, led by outside hitter and University of Cincinnati recruit Missy Harpenau who had 23 kills, seven jump serve aces and ten digs. Libero Kayla McWilliams led the Cougars digging corps with 20.
Mentor’s top hitters were Sara Kosec with 12 and Alexa Rand with 10. Lindsey Deitman had 19 digs, and Jenna Golic added 15.
Mentor out dug Mercy as a team 11.5 to 5.
The Cardinals really came alive in game two and kept a lot of balls in play with some great defense. Deitman served six points to put them on top 16-9, and they continued to grow their lead to 20-11. Kosec scored four kills and was in on two blocks and Deitman dug a Harpenau blast. Mercy made it interesting at the end until Rand scored on a hesitation spike after Golic dug a Mercy termination shot.
Mercy led all the way in games one and four and never trailed in three.

Division IV
Third ranked Norwalk St. Paul upended second ranked Jackson Center 25-19, 28-26, 25-22. Game one was close with eight ties and six lead changes. St. Paul scored first, Jackson Center went up 2-1, 2-2 and 6-4. St. Paul retook the lead and held it to 16-12, at which point Jackson Center scored five straight to lead 17-16. But St. Paul rallied with four points and won going away.
Game two featured a phenomenal rally, and more on that later. St. Paul scored first, after which Jackson Center took a 4-1 lead. The Flyers tied it up at five. Jackson Center then began to build a lead. The Tigers held St. Paul to single points while they often got two and moved ahead 17-11. The Flyers scored three , but Jackson Center responded with three and got to game point serve with a 24-16 lead.
At that point, St. Paul rallied! Amber Welfle started it with a cross court kill. Emma Badovick blocked for a point. Victoria Spaar scored three kills and she and setter Andrea Fritz blocked Tiger hitting ace Alissa Ware. Hannah Livengood served the run which ended on a hitting error after St. Paul went ahead 25-24.
Spaar blocked a tip to put St. Paul back on top, and Ware retied it with a cross court spike. St. Paul hitting star Christine Dow pounded a kill down the left side and Spaar and Kaylee Bundschuh blocked for game point.
Game three had 9 ties and six lead changes. The Tigers rallied for three to go up 15-14. St. Paul regained the lead at 18-16, but Jackson Center scored four straight, led by sophomore Casey Gates and Ware. St. Paul, however, ran off five straight and hung on from there.

Top ranked Marion Local downed Newark Catholic 25-19, 25-13, 25-14. There were four ties and three lead changes in game one. Marion never trailed in games two and three.
The teams battled on even terms for over half of the first game. But Marion scored six straight to take a 21-14 lead and traded points with the Green Wave from there.
Marion went ahead 12-5 in game two. Newark scored five straight, but following a time out the Flyers ran off five straight, and after a kill by Green Wave hitter Alyssa Frick, scored seven more. In a contrast of heights, 6’4” Megan Barhorst served the Flyers’ first rally and 5’0” sophomore setter Shelby Moeller served the second.
In game three, Marion ran off to a 6-0 lead. The Green Wave closed to 10-7, but the Flyers scored another six straight.

Toledo Central Catholic and Bishop Hartley advance in Division II, no undefeated teams left at state

“I don’t know how you can put it in words. Someone finally put the bull’s eye on our backs”. Those were the words of Salem Coach Don Conser after Toledo Central Catholic rallied to knock off the top ranked undefeated Quakers 22-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-6, 15-13 in the first a Division II state semifinal. Conser said “You saw four different teams out there in games one and two versus three and four. The fifth game was nip and tuck and nip got tucked”.
Indeed, the match was like night and day.
The first game had nine ties and six lead changes, while the second was tied seven times and saw four lead changes. And Salem prevailed in both. The Quakers jumped ahead 6-2 in game one led by sophomore Amy Scullion who started a five point run with a kill and then served while senior sister Katie spiked two kills.
Central went up 10-9 as Kristi Helldobler blocked and spiked points. Salem went back on top 11-10 and edged further ahead 19-16.
But when Central 6’2” outside hitter Ashley Frazier terminated a volley, Kelsey Gerken stepped up and served three aces as the Irish went back on top 20-19. After an error tied it, Frazier dug Amy Scullion and libero Amanda Gray scored a kill.
But Salem spurted ahead 23-21 on two kills by Amy Scullion, a dig at the net from defensive specialist Brianne Wagner and a kill by middle Allison Ward. Two errors by Central ended the game.
Salem took a 5-1 lead, and continued the margin to 10-6. Following a Salem service error, Central tied on kills by Amanda Arnold and Ashley Sujkowski and another ace by Gerken.
The teams stayed within a point as the Scullions handled Salem’s scoring. The Quakers took the lead for good on a seven point run served by Paige Kenreigh. Up 22-16, they parried with Central to the end.
When game three started, there were new versions of the teams on the floor. And after a 1-1 tie, Central ran off the first of two seven-point rallies, behind the hitting of Frazier and Amber Wiczynski, and serving of Arnold. With the Irish up 13-4, Salem began a mini rally to close the gap to 18-15. At one point Amy Scullion powered three straight kills.
But then Central ran off seven more points to end the game, with Frazier serving up two aces.
Beginning a new game didn’t stop the Irish as they scored 12 more points in a row, making it 19 straight overall. Arnold served, Frazier spiked two points, and Julia Haupricht was in on three blocks. Libero Amanda Gray was phenomenal in the backcourt.
Frazier would score five more kills and Gerken serve two aces, as Central blitzed to the finish. Frazier ended it with a booming block on Amy Scullion.
In game five the score was tied twice, at 3 and 4, and Central led the rest of the time.
The Irish were up 7-4, 10-5 and a match point 14-9 when Katie Scullion spiked from backcourt to start a four point run that was helped by two hitting errors. The rally was one point short of tying when a hitting error ended the match.
Conser said the match was a topper for momentum swings, which says something since he’s been coaching for 30 years. “When everything got tight I called a couple timeouts but they didn’t help” he added.
Central Coach Melissa Belcher thought her team started off wanting to win too much and said they “were just banging the ball in the first two games and not being smart with it”. But “they became scrappier in game three, doing anything to keep the ball alive” and after that she said “I felt my kids were in their groove”.
Frazier had a somewhat different take on the first two games. She said they didn’t know much about Salem other than “we needed to put up a big block on the Scullions”. She said they learned what else they needed to during those first two games.
Frazier, who led the Irish attack with 18 kills, added “having depth on our team definitely helped us out”.
Wiczynski had 13 kills, and Haupricht, Arnold and Helldobler added 8, 7 and 6, respectively. Arnold had 30 assists and Gerken 20. Gray led the defense with a whopping 32 digs, and Frazier and Haupricht were the leading blockers.
The Scullion sisters recorded 38 of Salem’s 41 kills, and Taylor Toothman had 35 assists. Katie Scullion had 13 digs, Toothman 11 and Amy Scullion 10.

After Salem lost, that left Tippecanoe as the only unbeaten team left in the state. And one marathon match later there were no undefeated teams, as Bishop Hartley knocked off the Red Devils 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14. This match was one for the memory books, two hours and seven minutes of long intense volleys between two equally matched teams that fought valiantly to the end. Despite the closeness of the match, there were only a total of eight ties and two lead changes in the first four games. Game five, however, saw eight ties and three changes.
Giana D’Andrea had a huge day for Hartley, leading the Hawks with 17 kills and ten total blocks. Coach Max Miller said after the match “She definitely raised her game a level tonight. I could see it in her eyes”. D’Andrea attributed her performance to “thinking about all the conditioning we did…I knew we wanted it…the seniors wanted it”
Also contributing to the Hawks’ attack were Addie Zavatsky and Teresa Trucco with 14 kills apiece and Lindsey Coffield with seven. Lindsay Gaughan and Nicole Howard combined for 41 of the Hawks 53 total assists. Libero Abby Weisenberger led in digging with 20, with Trucco and Zavatsky adding 17 and 15. Hartley had 12.5 team blocks with 23 block assists.
Tippecanoe had four hitters reach double figures: Cassie Berning 17, Gina Porto 16, Hilary Andrews 13 and Abby Dowd with 11. Hallie Donathan had 44 assists. Dowd and Evelyn Carus tied with 19 digs, Berning added 17, and Porto and Donathan combined for 16 more.
Hartley led for half of game one, when it wasn’t tied. Their biggest edge was four and they were still atop 15-13 when Berning started a five point run that put Tippecanoe on top for good. The Red Devils gradually upped the lead to 24-19 and Porto ended the set with a kill off the slide.
Hartley took advantage of errors in game two to go up 6-1, and when Tippecanoe closed to 8-7, the Hawks scored five more with D’Andrea in on two block assists and Allison Hagans scoring a kill. Coffield also served an ace.
Tippecanoe narrowed the lead again to 20-17, but Hartley scored five of the last seven.
The final point came on a long Tippecanoe hit that came after Weisenberger dug a Red Devil blast over the net.
Game three was a rerun of game two, only Tippecanoe won this one. The Red Devils led 4-2, 6-3, and 10-5. Hartley closed to 12-11, but Porto blocked D’Andrea and spiked a cross court kill and Andrews aced two serves. Hartley closed to 20-18, but Tippecanoe pulled away to the end.
Hartley led all of game four starting with 2-0, 4-1 and 10-4. The closest Tippecanoe ever got was four.
Game five was wild, with Tippecanoe up first 1-0, then Hartley 2-1 and 3-2. Carus tied it at 3 and Tippecanoe moved ahead 6-3 on two aces by Porto, and 8-4 on kills by Berning and Dowd.
Hartley tied at 10 with D’Andrea blocking and Zavatsky spiking a kill. The score was tied at 11, 12 and 13 with Hartley a step ahead on each point. The Harks went up 14-13 on a double block by Coffield and Loren Fallert. Berning tied it again with a kill.
But Hartley went back on top on a tip by Coffield, and on the next volley she and Allison Hagans blocked Andrews for match point.
Miller said afterward that when Hartley fell behind he reminded them of their match with Roger Bacon. After they lost the first two games of that one, he told the players “this could be a statement match of their season”. Hartley lost that match, but in five. And that, along with their overall strong schedule helped toughen them for the challenge they got yesterday, according to Miller.
Weisenberger added” We never gave up. The games we lost this season helped us win this one”.
As for the loss, Tippecanoe Coach Pat Carus said he was “extraordinarily disappointed for our players”. He added “they played wonderfully, but hats off to Hartley, they played great too”. Carus said his team’s play got disorganized at times “but only because of Hartley”. And he cited Hartley’s D’Andrea saying “she absolutely stood out…big players rise up in big matches”.
For Porto and Donathan, playing at the Nutter Center in front of their 2000 fans was a thrill. Donathan said the fans are like a big family and “they bring our energy with them”. Porto said they never thought the whole town would come out for volleyball.

State Semifinal Scores for 2007

Division III Semifinals (played Thursday)
Lima Central Catholic (26-2) def. Roger Bacon (19-9) 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23
Albany Alexander (25-3) def. Gates Mills Gilmour (24-4) 25-18, 25-21, 18-25, 24-26, 16-14

Division II Semifinals
Toledo Central Catholic (24-4) def. Salem (27-1) 22-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-6, 15-13
Bishop Hartley (23-5) def. Tippecanoe (28-1) 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14

Division I
Mount Notre Dame (24-4) def. Magnificat (23-5) 25-23, 25-12, 25-19
Mother of Mercy (27-1) def. Mentor (26-3) 25-10, 20-25, 25-16, 25-11

Division IV
Norwalk St. Paul (26-2) def. Jackson Center (25-4) 25-19, 28-26, 25-22
Marion Local (27-1) def. Newark Catholic (21-8) 25-19, 25-13, 25-14

Links to other articles

Salem's run at state ends in 5-game loss to Toledo Central Catholic (111007, Salem News, by Justin Smolkovich)
Volleyball: Hartley bounces back, right into state final (111007, Columbus Dispatch, by Mike Price)
Volleyball: Top team stops Newark Catholic (111007, Columbus Dispatch, by Mike Price)
MND-Mercy showdown (111007, Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer)
Marion Local one win from state crown (111007, Dayton Daily News, by Debbie Juniewicz)
No. 2 Tipp falls short of championship berth (111007, Dayton Daily News, by Dave Long)
Central shocks Salem (111007, Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga)
Mentor's success short lived (111007, Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey)
Beyond the net state tournament insider (111007, Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey)
Defending champions brush aside Magnificat (111007, Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey)
Volleyball: Composure key to Hartley's hopes (110907, Columbus Dispatch, by Mike Price)
LCC marches to state finals (110907, LimaOhio.com, by Mark Altstaetter)
Tiny Thunderbirds floor Bacon (110907, Cincinnati Enquirer, by Matt Mulcahey)
Beyond the net state tournament insider (110907, Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey)
Lancers drop five game thriller (110907, Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey)
Sidelines: Central Catholic unfamiliar with state semifinal opponent (110807, Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga)
State tournament starts today for Spartans (110807, Athens Messenger, by Joe Higgins)

Division III State Semifinal

Someone will win first state title ever as Lima Central Catholic and Albany Alexander advance
Lima Central Catholic made a successful debut in the state tournament with a 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23 win over St. Bernard Roger Bacon.
If the Thunderbirds were awed making their first final four appearance against an opponent that has a time share arrangement with the Nutter Center, they did not show it. Central never trailed in game one. After Roger Bacon appeared to take command, winning game two and going up 12-9 in game three, Central rallied for seven straight points and stayed at least three ahead of the Spartans for the rest of that set. The final game featured nine ties and five lead changes. The last change went to Central when, after Roger Bacon had gone ahead 21-19, the Thunderbirds scored six of the last eight to points to advance to their first state title match.
Central Coach Dave Franklin said he downplayed the significance of the second game loss to Roger Bacon by reminding his players they had been blasted 25-10 by Huron in one game of their regional final and gone on to win.
Accurate hitting and blocking accounted for the difference in this match. Lima Central made nine less attack errors than the Spartans and scored four more team blocks. Their blocking also prevented some Roger Bacon points.
When asked about where his team was strongest Franklin agreed about the blocking, saying “our play at the net…blocking is probably our best defense…closing the block is our number one discipline”. Amazingly, Central’s tallest player is 5’10”.
Franklin downplays that too. He tells his players “If you’re tall you’re farther away from the court. If you’re short you are closer and can dig everything”. The Thunderbirds dug 51 balls, only three less than Roger Bacon which is renowned for their back court play.
Led by Kacy Querry (8 kills), Rachel Illig (16 kills) and sophomore Danielle Taflinger, Central took early leads of 3-1 and 7-4. They scored 9 of 11 points to go up 16-7 as outside JoJo Krieg (17 kills, 11 digs) pounded three spikes and served an ace.
Roger Bacon came back, closing to 20-18 behind the hitting of Alli Wilson and a dump and ace from setter Katelyn Schawe (39 assists, 4 aces). But Krieg scored on a cross court shot, and after a kill by Spartan outside Chelsea Sprong (9 kills, 10 digs), Krieg banged another kill and served out as Querry ended the game with a kill from the middle over to the left line.
With Central up 9-6 lead in game two, Wilson spiked a point to start a Spartan rally. Schawe served an ace and five more points. After a Central point, Sprong scored two kills and dove for a dig at the net as Roger Bacon moved ahead 17-10. Their biggest lead was 23-14 after an ace by middle hitter Maria Carmichael.
Roger Bacon took a 6-3 game three edge on two blasts by outside Chelsea Hoffman, and stayed up by three to 12-9. But after the Spartans made two attack errors, Krieg spiked a kill, setter Alexis Diglio (46 assists, 3 aces) aced two serves and Lauren Thomas scored two kills. That gave Central a 16-12 lead and, soon after they were up 21-16. Roger Bacon got within 23-20, but Krieg blasted a cross court smash, and Querry and Thomas double blocked Wilson for game point.
Game four was back and forth up to 6-6, at which point Ashley Mooney served four Thunderbird points. Central kept that margin to 16-12. Carmichael terminated a short set from Schawe to cut the lead to 17-15. On the next volley Carmichael dove for a line drive dig of a Central spike, which Schawe dumped into a hole.
Krieg now made the first of two critical spikes. Roger Bacon then tied it on a kill by Maria Groh and an ace from Schawe. Krieg followed with her second spike. But Groh blocked for a retie, Sprong spiked a kill and Wilson served an ace to put Roger Bacon up 21-19. But on the next volley, a Spartan touched the net and Illig demolished a cross court spike after libero Chelsea Crow (15 digs) had dug two Spartan missives. Thanks to Krieg's earlier kills, that retied it, and when Taflinger crushed a Diglio short and blocked Hoffman, the Thunderbirds were up 23-21.
Sprong got Roger Bacon on the board again, but Taflinger nailed another short set, and after one more point by the Spartans, Illig smoked a kill down the line for match point.
Roger Bacon libero Vickie Pumpple led both teams with 19 digs.
Krieg said winning the state semifinal was “the experience of a lifetime”, and Franklin said winning against a team like Roger Bacon added to entire experience. He said “this group of girls will take on anything, UCLA bound Sara Sage, and a storied program like Roger Bacon”
On Saturday they will take on Albany Alexander for everything.
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Alexander advanced to their first final by outlasting Gates Mills Gilmour Academy 25-18, 25-21, 18-25, 24-26, 16-14. The match was played as closely as the scores indicate, but the stats show wide divergences. Alexander held a huge lead in kills, 71-46, but also committed a whopping 36 attack errors to Glimour’s 22. Upon seeing his team’s error total, Alexander Coach Bradd Jeffers said “that’s got to be a record”.
Gilmour out blocked Alexander 11-5 and committed fewer service errors. In the end it all came out about even.
Jeffers said Gilmour’s blocking and the hitting of outside Raysa Sylvester were two big factors in Gilmour winning games three and four. Before the tiebreaker he told his team “Ladies, you’re going to have to win – go out and make plays”
Game one saw three ties but otherwise Alexander led all the way. Betsy Irwin tipped for the first point and spiked for the last one. After a tie at 4-4, Julie Els scored a kill, and Whitney Smith, who led both teams with 23 kills, served an ace to pace a four point Spartan run that put them atop for good.
Gilmour closed to 8-7, but Alexander spurted to leads of 15-10 and 19-13.
The second frame went back and forth with 10 ties and six lead changes. Smith scored the first point for Alexander after setter Lauren Raines dig a Gilmour spike over the net.
But Gilmour middle Brittany Shirk sent an off speed shot to Alexander’s backcourt and Madison Mawby followed with a kill. Alexander middle Megan McCoy retied it at 3, and the scoring and leads changed hands up to 11-11.
A kill by Smith put Alexander up for good as Gilmour followed with an error and Irwin served two aces. The teams traded five points each after which Alexander went up by six at 22-16. Els spiked for game point.
Gilmour jumped on top 3-0 and 6-1 in game three on kills by Sylvester, Mawby and Mary Kramer and an ace by Jess Hammer. Diving digs by Sylvester helped Gilmour outlast Alexander on some volleys, and the Lancers moved further ahead 15-6.
Irwin scored five as Alexander crept within three at 17-14, terminating a Raines short set, tipping and crushing two over passes and spiking for two. But Sylvester, Mawby and Kramer led a 4-1 Lancer spurt, and soon after a double block by Hammer and Shirk made the score 23-14. Shirk popped a hit to an empty back court for game point.
Gilmour again jumped out 4-0 in game four, but Alexander evened it at 5 and went up 7-6. Gilmour retook the lead 9-7 on a short set pop over blockers by Shirk. And while there would be nine more ties, Alexander would never again lead. The Spartans tied at 12 on a kill by Smith. The teams exchanged points to 14, then alternated brief runs of two, then three and again two, making it 21-all, and then exchanged points to 24. Sylvester came up with two big kills, and Kramer and Hammer teamed on a block to keep Gilmour a step ahead. A Gilmour service error gave Alexander their final tie at 24. Kramer tipped for another Lancer go-ahead. On the final volley, Gilmour dug two blocks by Smith and Shirk finally blocked a tip by McCoy for game point.
The closeness of game four continued into the tiebreaker to the tune of seven ties and four lead changes.
Alexander led 2-0 and 4-3, Gilmour 3-2. Alexander moved ahead 8-4 with Smith scoring two kills, and she, McCoy and Els teaming up for two block points.
But Gilmour scored six straight, with Kramer hitting a tip and serving three straight aces. Alexander took a timeout after the first one. Following the timeout they dug Kramer’s next serve into the net. Kramer hit her third serve into the top of the net, and it bounced over.
From there the teams traded two points apiece leaving Gilmour atop 12-10. A service error and a dump by Raines of an unsettable dig tied the score. Sylvester put Gilmour up 13-12 and Irwin clobbered a short set kill to retie. Raines found the left corner with a lob to put Alexander at match point and Gilmour called time out. Kramer tied it with a block of Irwin.
But Smith placed a spike on the back line to put the Spartans up 15-14, and Irwin aced the match point serve. She said afterward “we have certain zones that we serve to, but I was just trying to get the ball in, I wasn’t trying for an ace”.
Alexander surprised some people by making it back to state, but Jeffers said this year’s team is stronger. Raines, who had 57 assists, echoed that, noting that last year she had to focus on getting the ball to two hitters. She said “this year I have confidence in every front row player”. The stats show the balance. Smith led with 23 kills, but Irwin and Allie Sayers were also in double figures with 16 and 14, and Els had eight.
Alexander recorded a whopping 102 digs. Lauren Thomas led with 28, followed by Sayers with 22, Smith 19 and Raines 18.
Sylvester led Gilmour Academy with 18 kills and 23 digs. Kramer spiked 11 kills, and Shirk and Mawby hit eight apiece. Hammer and libero Eileen Lane had 21 digs, and setter Lauren Flocken had 34 assists and 13 digs. Hammer, Shirk, Flocken and Kramer led the blocking.
When asked about Saturday, Coach Jeffers made a promise. “We’re gonna’ be there and we’re gonna’ play hard.
You can’t ask for anything more.
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Had Roger Bacon won last night, Saturday’s final would have been Spartans against Spartans. But since Lima Central Catholic won, we’ll get to see their Lauren Thomas play against Alexander’s Lauren Thomas.
Alexander and Gilmour had one common opponent, West Salem Northwestern, which beat the host Spartans 24-26, 25-23, 25-18 in their tournament, and lost to Gilmour 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-12 in a regional semifinal.