State Tournament recap

Division IV

Sidney Lehman Catholic won its second state title Saturday with a 25-15, 25-9, 25-14 win over Tuscarawas Central Catholic. The Cavaliers shut down Central’s offense, holding middle hitter Millie Patchan to just five kills. Patchan spiked 40 kills in the Saints semifinal 25-23, 25-18,23-25, 27-29, 18-16 win over Dalton on Thursday. Lehman held Central Catholic to 14 total kills by block touching many of the Saints spikes and digging what got through.

Junior outside Morgan Schmitmeyer paced Lehman with 17 kills while Jessica Thobe added 13 kills and 17 digs. Freshman libero Erica Paulus led the defense with 20 digs.
Lehman also won state in 2005 and was making its seventh final four appearance. Central Catholic reached state for the first time in 2009, and was making it first ever title match appearance.

Lehman beat Toledo Christian to reach the final, but to get to state they had to slip past third ranked Fort Loramie in five and upend top ranked Marion Local 25-23, 25-21, 25-20

Division III

Middletown Bishop Fenwick won the first state volleyball title in school history with a 25-19, 20-25, 27-25, 25-16 win over Gilmour Academy in a match that lasted 1:47. Gilmour led most of game three and was up 23-19 and 24-22, but Fenwick pulled it out. The Falcons led all the way in game four. Alyssa Beck spiked 23 kills for Fenwick, while Brittany Link paced the Lancers with 17kills, 17 assists and 17 digs.

It was an emotional win for Coach Yoon Ha, who took over the program four years ago and found a very talented group of freshmen in need of discipline and being sold on his system of coaching. The Falcons just missed making the title match last year, losing to state champ Huron in five.

Fenwick reached the final with a hard fought 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Rockford Parkway in a contest between teams from two of Ohio’s premier volleyball conferences. Fenwick won the Girls Greater Cincinnati League Grey North title while Parkway tied for fifth at 5-4 in the Midwest Athletic Conference, whose members include Marion Local, St. Henry and Versailles.

Gilmour Academy stopped undefeated top ranked Tuscarawas Valley 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 in their semifinal, led by Link with 20 kills.

Division II

Mentor Lake Catholic also won their first ever state title with a 25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23 win over Sunbury Big Walnut, which was trying to become the first Central District team since St. Francis DeSales in 1982 to win a Division II/Class AA title. The Golden Eagles came so close! They led 12-9 in game one before giving up a ten point run. They led 24-22 in game three, and game four was 22-all.

With six hitters having at least five kills Lake Catholic was led by freshman! Abby Detering who spiked 11. Junior Bridget Wilhelm had 10. Juniors Samantha Ebright and Emma Swysgood paced Big Walnut with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

Detering ended a very long volley and the match with a cross-court smash that was dug three times and into the net.

Second ranked Lake Catholic advanced with a nerve wracking 19-25, 16-25, 25-13, 25-19, 15-11 win over Archbishop Alter. After game two, the Eagles switched from a 6-2 to a 5-1. Alter outside Megan Courtney led both teams with 25 kills. Last year Lake Catholic trailed top ranked Logan Elm in the semifinal two games to none and won, then led Padua Franciscan two to nothing in the final and lost.

Number five Big Walnut knocked off third ranked Mansfield Madison 25-23, 25-13, 25-12 in their semifinal, keeping the Rams out of system with block touches.

Division I

Toledo St. Ursula won its second state title with a 15-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-18 win over Dublin Coffman. Like Big Walnut, Coffman came close to becoming the first team from Central to win a big school crown since Reynoldsburg in 1988.

St. Ursula used a 9-1 run in game two to go up 21-15. Erin Williams was on fire for St. Ursula, and led their attack with 15 kills. Despite being down 24-18 to the powerhouse offensive machine that is St. Ursula, Coffman fought to a bitter but memorable ending that saw them flying out of bounds and throwing themselves on the floor to keep balls in play that were gone. St. Ursula finally won the point and with it the match, but Coach Mary Anne Souder later said “That last play shows the heart of our team”.

In a rare statistical anomaly, Coffman had the higher attack percentage, .239 to .193, and they out blocked the Arrows9.5 to 4.0. But the telltale stat was service aces, which St. Ursula led 10-3. The Arrows had four aces in their 9-1 game two rally, and they jumped out 4-0 in game four scoring twice on kills of serve receive overpasses and once on an ace.

The title match was no match for Friday’s two hour and two minute marathon in which Coffman finally beat Ursuline Academy 28-26, 20-25, 22-25, 25-17, 17-15. The Shamrocks had lost two previous four-game matches to Ursuline, one earlier this season and the other in last year’s state championship. The two teams combined for 256 digs, and battled though intense points that required from five to ten volleys.

St. Ursula downed Brecksville in the other semifinal 25-20, 25-13, 25-13. The unranked Bees hail from the Southwestern Conference, which is also home to Amherst Steele, whom St. Ursula ousted at regional, and Olmsted Falls.

2010 Division I Results/Stats

Dublin Coffman (27-1) def. Cincinnati Ursuline Academy (27-1) 28-26, 20-25, 22-25, 25-17, 17-15

Stats: Time: 2:02, Total Digs (both teams) 256

Dublin Coffman: Kills: Meredith Stranges 17, McKenzie Bailey, Isolde Hannan 15, Jenn Vargo 12, Lindsey Zitzke 8; Assists Zitzke 44, Stranges 6; Digs: Julia Mindlina 34, Stranges 33, Stacy Axner 20, Morgan Yeager 17, Zitzke 12; Blocks: Hannan 5, Cassie Hausfeld, Zitzke 3

Ursuline Academy: Kills: Christina Beer 14, Noelle Langenkamp, Olivia Johnson 12, Abby Engdahl 10, Elena Lohr 8; Assists: Nikki Hill 31, Iris Brewer 18; Aces: Hill 3; Digs: Kori Moster 40, Lohr 23, Jamie Goldschmidt 14, Hill 13, Engdahl 10; Blocks: Langenkamp 5, Johnson 4

********************************************************************************

Toledo St. Ursula (27-1) def. Brecksville-Broadview Hts. (21-7) 25-20, 25-13, 25-13

Stats: Time: 1:05

Toledo St. Ursula: Kills: Maddie Burnham 15, Veronica Zimmerman 6, Erin Williams, Maggie Burnham 5; Assists: Zimmerman 28; Aces: Zimmerman, Mariah Truscinski 4, Madison Haupricht 3; Digs: Madison Strall 10; Blocks: Cassidy Croci 4, Zimmerman 3

Brecksville-Broadview Hts.: Kils: Ashley King 8, Olivia Chrzanowski, Sarah Orlandi, Abby Brinkman 5; Assists: Nikki D’anna 22; Digs: Chrzanowski 13, Andrea Green 11

2010 Division II Results/Stats

Big Walnut (23-5) def. Mansfield Madison (27-2) 25-23, 25-13, 25-12

Stats: Time: 1:02

Big Walnut: Kills: Kaleigh Sutherland 10, Jaz Reed 9, Samantha Ebright 7, Eleni Lourgos, Emma Swysgood 5; Assists: Tabitha Piper 30, Aces: Piper 4, Lourgos 3; Digs: Reed 12, Ebright 11; Blocks: Piper 3

Mansfield Madison: Kills: Emilee Muzechuck 10, Ashley Galbraith 8, Kaitlyn Eilenfeld 6; Assists: Mackenzie Lauber 16, Morgan Peterson 8; Aces: Peterson 3; Digs: Nikki Holmes

********************************************************************************

Lake Catholic (26-2) def. Archbishop Alter (20-8) 19-25, 16-25, 25-13, 25-19, 15-11

Stats: Time: 1:54

Lake Catholic: Kills: Bridget Grdina 14, Abby Detering 11, Nicole Snyder, Bridget Wilhelm 10; Assists: Audryana Lucha 35, Kara Oster 7; Digs: Samantha Kline 21; Blocks: Kristin Primozic 8, Snyder 3

Archbishop Alter: Kills: Megan Courtney 25, Jackie Kohls, Kelly Westerkamp 8; Assists: Mary Rodehaver 24, Courtney 18; Aces: Kohls 4; Digs: Kohls 20, Courtney, Westerkamp 12; Blocks: Courtney 4, Molly Van Oss 3

2010 Division III Results/Stats

Gilmour Academy def. Tuscarawas Valley 25-16, 25-15, 25-21

Stats: Time: 1:37

Tuscarawas Valley: Kills: Shannon Watson 9, Katlynn Dunlap 5; Assists: Gabbie Davis 16; Aces: Watson 4; Digs: Olivia Higl 8

Gilmour Academy: Kills: Brittany Link 20, Maddie Kosar 7; Assists: Kosar 18, Link 11 Digs: Tori Gallo 11, Carolyn Curran 9; Blocks: Link 3

********************************************************************************

Bishop Fenwick def. Rockford Parkway 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20

Stats: Time 1:49

Rockford Parkway: Kills: Kelsey Bates 22, Emily Crowell 12, Bailey King, Haley Burtch 6, Becca Harshman 5; Assists: Haley Roehm 28, Morgan Cron 18; Digs: Crowell 18, Burtch 13, Roehm 12, Peyton Heitkamp, Cron 10; Blocks Crowell 3


Bishop Fenwick: Kills:Kristin Thompson 19, Alyssa Beck 18, Chelsea Byrge 8Chelsea Farrell 7, Casey Volz 6; Assists: Byrge 32, Melanie Monahan 20; Aces: Monahan 4, Beck 3; Digs: Jessica Levy 24, Beck, Cayla Quallen 13, Byrge 10; Blocks: Thompson, Farrell 5, Beck 4

2010 Division IV State Semifinals

Lehman Catholic, Tuscarawas Central Catholic advance to Saturday showdown

Sidney Lehman Catholic advanced to the state final with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-18 win over Toledo Christian Thursday. This is Lehman’s seventh appearance at state, and first since 2005 when they won it all. The second ranked 28-1 Cavaliers avenged a season opening loss by upending top ranked Marion Local in the regional final last Saturday.

It was the second time the unrated Eagles have been to state, and they are looking for more in the near future according to Coach Dave Conley. “This time around we’re not satisfied. We’ve got a deep program and we’re trying to earn respect around the state. The team in 2006 graduated everybody. I’d love to bring these two back (Kayla Nagle and Bethany Critchley), but we’ve got the most depth we’ve had ever. So we’re going to keep firing away. We’re going to bang on the door until we knock it down”.

The Eagles roster consists of two seniors, three juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen. (It should be noted that all four teams in the semifinals are rather young.)

Conley also said, however, “You’ve got to give Lehman Catholic a lot of credit. They beat Marion Catholic. They are solid all the way around, their ball control was good, and they put pressure on us. They’ve got a lot of weapons. That’s what good teams do. They put pressure on you and they don’t let up”.

The teams were even on kills, with Lehman having a slight 35-34 advantage. The big differences were ball control where the Cavaliers committed only eight errors to 21 for Toledo Christian, and service aces with Lehman enjoying a 10-1 edge.

Lehman senior outside hitter echoed those statistics with her assessment of what her team did well. “I feel like we served aggressively and we hustled on defense”. Coach Greg Snipes said they knew Toledo Christian wanted to go to their 6’0” senior middle hitter Bethany Critchley. “Our main objective was to take them out of that first pass and force them to go to the outside. And for the most part I thought we made their serve receive move a lot and they struggled with their first pass”.

Toledo Christian scored first and kept a step apace through point trading to 4-all on kills by junior outside Ellen Huffman and middle Bethany Critchley. Then they committed three errors and after an ace by Cavalier freshman libero Erica Paulus, Lehman was up 7-3.

Lehman grew their edge to 10-5, 13-7 and 15-8. And when the Eagles closed to 16-13, Jessica Thobe served up two aces and junior outside Lindsey Spearman, replacing junior Morgan Schmitmeyer who sprained her ankle, pounded two kills to re-up the ante to 21-13.

Asked what she thought about starting, Spearman replied “I was so nervous because I haven’t got that much varsity time. I didn’t want to blow it for the team. But once I got out there I was fine”. Spearman made the most of her opportunity with ten kills, but had someone told her beforehand she would do that in the state tournament, her response would have been “That’s crazy”.

Jessica Thobe ended the game with another kill, after Paulus dove to prevent an Eagle cross-court shot from landing.

Picking up where she left off, Thobe opened the next set with a well placed hit. Critchley tied with a bomb up the middle, but junior Paxton Hatcher and senior Ann Watercutter block killed and setter Andrea Thobe demolished an overpass, and Lehman moved out 7-3 on two more two-point spurts.

Huffman and Nagle each scored for Toledo Christian, but after a service error, Andrea Thobe served up nine points including an ace as Spearman spiked two more kills and blocked for another, and from 17-5 it was a matter of time.

Critchley put Toledo Christian on the board in game three with a liner, and answered a kill by Jessica Thobe with a tip. Following an Eagle hitting error, Thobe spiked three kills and Hatcher demolished an Andrea Thobe quick set. The Cavaliers were up 6-2 and after some point trading they upped their margin to 16-7 on an 8-2 run. Down 19-9, Toledo Christian fought back, led by Nagle who joined sophomore Allie Lindke on a block kill and added two dumps. Eventually, Hatcher scored match point with a termination in the middle.

Although they were out, the Eagles saw positives in the outcome. Nagle explained “We went down playing our hearts out. We had trouble early in the game but near the end we saw a glimmer of hope…I feel like we went out strong”. To which Critchley added “Getting this far has been amazing. I think we shocked each other getting this far. We didn’t get what we wanted but we’re happy with what happened”.

Stats:

Toledo Christian: Kills: Ellen Huffman, Bethany Critchley 11, Kayla Nagle 6; Assists: Nagle 27; Digs: Abby Vinciczky 16, Huffman 13, Alex Kanfeld 12

Lehman Catholic: Jessica Thobe 14, Lindsey Spearman 10; Assists: Andrea Thobe 26; Aces: Erica Paulus 3; Digs: Paulus, Jessica Thobe 14; Blocks: Ellie Waldsmith, Ann Watercutter 3

*********************************************************************************

“I think this one outdid it”.

That was how Tuscarawas Central Catholic Coach Linda Williams responded when asked to compare her team’s 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 27-29, 18-16 win over Dalton in an emotionally charged hard hitting state semifinal yesterday to last Saturday’s 23-25, 26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 17-15 cliffhanger over Beaver Eastern at the regional.

The teams appeared to be evenly matched, although Central was ranked number four on the final coaches’ poll while the Bulldogs were unranked. Two factors loomed large in favor of Central Catholic.

One was a case of Dalton jitters in game one, which helped the Saints open up leads of 5-0, 9-1 and 15-4, after which the Bulldogs rallied and almost won the game. Dalton setter Ellen Hartmann said afterward “Our first two games we were a little nervous coming in. We’d never been down here before, and we got down early and had to fight our way back”.

The second was 5’8” senior setter/middle hitter Millie Patchan who paced the Saints with 40 kills, including nine in game five. Patchan scored the Saints’ first two points and six of their first ten. And with Dalton on a four point run and Central out of time outs with their lead having dwindled to 24-23, Patchan smoked game point down the left.

Patchan said afterward “Front row is my favorite place to play. When I’m in that front row I know I can put it down. I have confidence in myself and I can place the ball wherever I want”. With the score 17-16 in game five Patchan put down her 40th kill.

Saints freshman setter middle Megan Lawless opened game two with an ace that landed on the back line and Dalton setter Ellen Hartmann tied with a dump. Patchan then traded kills with Dalton 5’11” junior middle Audrey Metzger and 6’0” senior middle Samantha Clark to a 4-all tie. (Metzger had led the rally in game one and would tally 28 kills in the match.)

Central junior Briana Neidig scored the first of two points with a cross-court slam, and served two aces to put her team up 9-5. The Saints, who served nine aces in the second set, four of them landing on the back line, kept on marching from there with runs of 2, 2, 3 and 4 to a 20-9 lead.

Central jumped out 3-0 in set three, with Patchan scoring a kill and block, and upped it to 6-1. Bulldog outside Rachel Knetzer scored six kills as Dalton closed to 8-7. A great pass by Saints sophomore libero Sami Beamer led to another slam by Neidig, Lawless block killed, Neidig aced and freshman outside Tiffany Sunderlin spiked a kill to make it 12-7.

But Dalton tied at 13 on a four point run as Metzger and sophomore lefty outside Carolyn Beatty nailed three kills and Hartmann dished up an ace. Patchan spiked and blocked to keep Central in charge, but Clark and Knetzer led a three point Dalton run to another tie at 19.

Clark answered a kill by Neidig, and Metzger gave Dalton its first lead of the day with a block that ended a long intense volley. She terminated two more volleys as the Bulldogs went up 24-22, and soon after ended the game with a tip that left several Saints sprawled on the floor.

Game four was an 18-tie donnybrook of nine lead changes that mixed great hitting with frustrating errors to keep fans on the edges of their seats. The biggest lead by either team was two.

With the score 22-all Metzger and Patchan traded kills. Then Central served long putting Dalton at game point, but the Bulldogs hit long twice to put Central at match point. Clark retied with a cross-court slam that was dug way out. Central had two more match point opportunities, but when they drove a Dalton overpass out of bounds on the second one, Metzger holed a tip and Clark served a cross-court ace to cinch the win and tie the match.

Central Catholic jumped out 2-0 in the tiebreaker as Patchan spiked off a block. Hartmann scored on a dump that was dug into the pole and Metzger tied with a termination. Patchan answered in kind to spark a four-point run. Dalton would play catch-up from there and would never lead. “It’s never easy playing catch-up” Hartmann would say later.

A net serve ended the run, but Patchan followed with a kill. Central would make three more serving errors, but Dalton could not gain traction. After the second net serve, the Bulldogs hit long when the Saints were out of system after a serve by defensive specialist Annie Yoder, and after the third Patchan spiked another kill.

Dalton did come back, however, getting three straight to make it 12-10, and three more to tie at 14. The Bulldogs would tie twice more, but after a net serve Patchan put the match on ice with a smash off the block.

The Bulldogs did not get down after losing the first two sets. Last month they rallied from two games down last month to beat Smithville, ending the Smithies Wayne County Athletic League 26-match win streak. In light of that, Clark said “I had confidence. I knew we could win the last three”.

Dalton Coach Shanna Hildebrandt said her team focused better on defensive control after game two and on “covering the tips and being more disciplined” adding that they were out of position a lot in the first two sets. But she noted “We made too many unforced errors in the fifth game”.

“Volleyball is a momentum game”, said Williams in assessing Central’s ability to prevail. “I thought playing together was our key, and we served aggressive…even though we missed some in our final set I think that was the key to our game. We all played together as a family, that’s what we’ve been stressing especially at tournament time and that’s why we are here as winners”.

Match Notes:

1) Dalton is the second team in two years from the Wayne County Athletic League to reach the final four. Division III Smithville did it in 2009.

2) The kill leaders were very accurate today. Molly Patchan hit a stellar .363 on 91 attempts, and Metzger averaged .344 on 64 tries.

3) Central Coach Linda Williams cited injured senior outside Ali Seymore for being very supportive to the team. Getting to the state final has been Seymour’s dream since she was little. Briana Neidig has taken over Seymour’s spot at left side and start freshman Anna Thompson in Neidig’s spot (Central starts three frosh!). Williams also cited Madison Bonamico, who led the Saints and their area (all divisions) this year in service points. She made only one service error yesterday.

4) Williams felt being at state before really helped. “We knew what to expect. Not all the girls were here but the young girls stepped it up. Millie kept them up. She’s a great captain and a great leader and that was a big part of why they played so well”.
Patchan agreed, “We had a good feeling coming in today. Last year when we walked into that arena, everyone was like, wow! This is a big place, there’s no walls, it’s wide open. This year it’s more like ‘you know what, court’s same size, net’s just as high, it doesn’t look that big’. It’s really not as big as we thought. That’s the attitude we carried in today, and we passed it on to the younger girls”.

5) Dalton middle Samantha Clark said “It’s just amazing that we have that many people that will drive this far for us. I wish we could have gone the entire way”.

Stats:

Dalton: Kills: Audrey Metzger 28, Samantha Clark 15, Rachel Knetzer 9, Ellen Hartmann 5; Assists: Hartmann 49; Aces: Knetzer 4, Clark 3; Digs: Knetzer 28, Marlow Beatty 23, Hartmann 22, Amber Yoder 18, Carolyn Beatty 14; Blocks: Hartmann, Metzger 3

Tuscarawas Central Catholic: Kills: Millie Patchan 40, Briana Neidig 12, Megan Lawless 8, Tiffany Sunderlin 7; Assists: Lawless 40, Patchan 19; Aces: Neidig 4, Lawless 3; Digs: Neidig 26, Lawless 20, Lesley Teater 16, Sami Beamer 15, Patchan 11, Madison Bonamico 10; Blocks: Patchan 5, Anna Thompson 3