No. 1 Jackson Center, No. 2 Marion Local advance to state championship rematch

Jackson Center and Marion Local will face off in a state championship showdown of the top two teams, respectively, in Division IV. Jackson Center nipped the Flyers on the road 21-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-12 on September 20.

Marion Local (25-3) advanced with a thrilling 25-15, 14-25, 25-11, 25-27, 15-12 semifinal win over third ranked Newark Catholic (26-2) that lasted almost two hours.

It was “a crazy match” according to Flyer Coach Amy Steininger. “We won game one by a comfortable margin, the second game was a flip-flop and they took it to us, the third game we won, and the fourth was close. After that I told the girls ‘going five is nothing new to us’. All of our losses have been in five and now we’ve won four in a row”.

Two of the five game wins came in the New Bremen Sectional against league foes Fort Recovery and fifth ranked New Bremen.

Several Marion players showed up in the media room, and they were asked if they’d ever played with such emotion. All-Ohio sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Winner said “Oh yeah, every game”, and the comments segued into the MAC, which stands for Midwest Athletic Conference, and how playing in the MAC helps build mental toughness.

Senior defensive specialist Tara Hartings started with “The MAC is amazing, every team and every game we play there’s tough competition”. Libero Jessica Schwieterman added “Playing in the MAC is what got us here”. Setter Shelby Moeller noted that “Playing in the MAC forces people to use teamwork to win”.

One thing nobody mentioned is that the area that comprises the MAC was settled in the 1830s and 1840s by Germans who arrived from Cincinnati.

But we digress. Marion Local is much different the senior laden group that beat Newark Catholic in three in last year’s semifinal. That team had four hitters ranging from 6’1” to 6’4” and simply overpowered opponents. This year’s squad has no six footers and relies on defense.

Oh, and the starting lineup includes a junior, three sophomores and a freshman.

Newark Catholic starts six seniors (counting libero Kenzie Egan), and 5’9“ freshman outside Katie Harrington.

Marion jumped on the Green Wave quickly in game one as Winner scored the first two of her match high 28 kills by spiking down the line and then softly tipping over blockers into a hole.

The Green Wave were led by 5’11” hitter Angela McNulty with 19 kills, and she scored their first three points, but Marion took leads of 3-1, 5-2 and 7-3 in the process.

The Flyers added moved up 10-3 on a kill by junior Leah Rosenbeck, who tallied 15 for the day, and a block and kill by sophomore Kaylee Schaefer. Shortly after, Rosenbeck served a six point run to 17-6, and she eventually pounded a game winning blast to the back line.

The Flyers started game two with a bang. Actually it was a double block by Schaefer and 5’11” freshman Margaret Wuebker, who had six total.

But McNulty spiked a kill that was blocked over and out, and she followed by smashing a Laney Warthen quick set. Two Flyer errors later, Harrington served an ace. Marion scored twice, but Newark defender Maria Campolo prevented a third point and McNulty started a three point spurt to 8-3.

The Green Wave continued scoring in twos and threes with outside Alyssa Frick and 5’11” junior middle Erica Rath contributing kills, Rath blocking, and Campolo serving an ace, and after a kill by Warthen they were up 20-11. McNulty scored the game winner on a block that was lifted by Marion.

Momentum shifted back to Marion in the third set, as Schaefer scored first on a cross-court spike. Newark tied on a Flyer attack error that ended a long volley, but the Flyers took off to 5-1 on kills by Winner, and increased the lead to 11-4 on tips by Rosenbeck and an ace by Schwieterman.

After two Newark points that cut the gap to 16-10, Marion went on a seven point run, which Wuebker paced with a block and two kills, to put the game out of reach.

In game four, momentum undulated back to the Green Wave as Harrington started the scoring with a kill and headed back to the service line. Frick followed with a tip, McNulty added two kills and abetted Flyer miscues with two blocks, and Newark charged out to a 7-0 lead. Marion scored three but Newark did the same and scoring went back and forth to 16-8.

Then Marion rallied.

Wuebker started a three point spurt by killing an overpass of a spike by Rosenbeck. Schaefer spiked and block killed to lead another three point run. And Winner scored three kills in a four point rally that knotted the score at 18-all.

McNulty and Winner traded kills and Newark went back on top 23-20 helped by an ace from Egan and a huge dig by Harrington off the floor that went into a hole on Marion’s side of the net.

Rosenbeck, however, spiked two kills as the Flyers retied it. The next volley was very long and intense, and Rath finally ended it with a big block on Rosenbeck. But Wuebker came up with two blocks of her own helped by Winner and Schaefer, and Marion which had hitherto not led in the game was at match point.

McNulty came to the rescue with a spike that scudded off a Flyer dig, and a cross-court blast by Marion sailed wide to the right. Junior Averi Mason served a line drive ace to send the match into overtime.

We don’t know who won the coin toss but Newark wound up on the up-to-now winning side of the court and Marion got the serve. And while whoever was on Newark’s side had led almost the entire match, the Green Wave would never lead in the tiebreaker.

Marion drew first blood and the teams traded ten points and five ties. The Flyers went up 7-5 on a kill by Rosenbeck and a Newark hit that was ruled to have gone outside the pole. And with Winner pounding away, they built the edge to 12-8.

But Newark Catholic would not go quietly. McNulty spiked a kill and 5’10” sophomore Abby Litts blocked Winner. Marion called timeout, but that didn’t help as Winner’s ensuing spike sailed just long as a Newark defender pulled away. Litts and Rath then block killed the Green Wave back into a 12-all tie.

Marion called another timeout in which Steininger said later “I told the girls we need to focus on getting this point”. Winner delivered, with a cross-court spike that was dug to the media table. She then served and the Green Wave mishandled the receive, leading to a hitting error. Schwieterman then passed a Green Wave smash and Rosenbeck spiked the winning point.

Winner, who had seven kills in the tiebreaker, said later “I know when it’s going to game five, I need to swing away”.

McNulty and Egan were fighting back tears after the match, but were nevertheless philosophical about the loss, and they recognized the efforts of both sides. “For a minute I thought we were going to win it. I’m so proud of my teammates” was McNulty’s take. Egan added “I felt we did tremendous today. We wanted it bad”.

Neither of them felt that playing a fifth game put them at a disadvantage. (Newark Catholic had beaten Division II Regional Runner-Up Big Walnut in five). McNulty thought that Marion’s “great blocking and communication” were factors, and Egan added “They’re just a solid team”.

Jackson Center won their semifinal over Buckeye Central 25-11, 25-14, 25-11, and the win was as convincing as the score looks. During the entire match there was but one tie and one lead change. The Buckettes had no answer to outside hitters Alissa Ware and Casey Gates who combined for 34 kills, which was a dozen more than Buckeye Central could muster.

The Tigers also did a great job of digging and receiving with Ware, Gates and Carly Burch garnering 37 to Central’s team total of 31. Central Coach Paige Caudill probably summed up the loss best with “If you don’t turn on a dime and answer what they have, they’ll keep doing it”. Of Gates and Ware she said “They’re all-Ohioans, they have a full team, and their team gives them the opportunity to be all-Ohioans.”.

For a brief moment the match wasn’t what it became, as 5’11” freshman Makayla Agin started things off with a tip and senior outside Jordan Kimmel smoked a kill from back court.

But Ware got the Tigers rolling with two block kills and she followed with a spike kill. Kimmel scored again from back court to cut Jackson Center’s lead 4-3, but the Tigers ran off six more points with senior hitter Bethany Hoehne and Gates contributing three kills.

Buckette 5’10” sophomore right side Ashley Langjahr scored a kill to cut the lead to 11-5, but Kimmel went down on the next volley with an ankle injury and had to leave the game. After a kill by Agin that left Jackson Center on top 17-10, Ware spiked to start a seven point run served by setter Cortnee Sosby. Ware eventually scored the game winning cross-court spike.

The Tigers kept right on going in game two by opening up a 5-0 lead on scoring from Ware and Hoehne. Agin ended the run with a block on Ware. Scoring went back and forth, but Buckeye Central was for the most part held to a point at a time while Jackson Center scored two and three.

Kimmel returned to action late in the game and scored two kills. But Tiger senior middle Tara Spicer spiked the game winner with a kill off the block.

Kimmel would later make one of the most poignant post game comments of this year’s tournament. She was asked how her ankle felt when she reentered the match. Her response was “It hurt, but I didn’t want to stop”.

In game three, Burch opened the scoring with an ace, Ware followed with two kills and Burch added another ace. The Tigers increased their lead to 8-2, 13-4 and 17-5, and they ended the match with a five point run capped by a hit from Gates into a hole.

For Jackson Center, the win erased, or at least eased, memories of last year’s loss to Norwalk St. Paul in what was the Tiger’s first final four. “We really wanted that, we’ve been working hard all year” was how Tara Spicer put it. Bethany Hoehne added “We wanted to prove to people we deserve to be here”. And Alissa Ware noted that “It was very important to get off to a good start”.

The Tigers have been getting off fast throughout the tourney, according to Caudill. They blitzed Fisher Catholic and Fort Loramie 25-4 and 25-5, respectively, in game one of their regional matches last week.

They need to get off to one more fast start.