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State Championship match one of the best ever June 6, 2004 By Jim Jicha “In ten years of coaching this is the best high school match I’ve been involved in”. Those were the words of Cincinnati Moeller Assistant Coach Dan Meyer after the Crusaders (28-1) outlasted Centerville (21-7) 22-25, 25-19, 28-26, 19-25, 15-12 in a two hour match to claim their third State Championship. Moeller won in 1997 and 1998 and Meyer was involved with those teams too. This was a championship fans will remember years down the road because it was so sweet to watch. I've witnessed many championships in different sports at the professional, collegiate and high school levels. And I learned long ago that contests like last week’s Boys’ State Volleyball Final are hard to come by. The Super Bowl, for example, rarely lives up to its potential, and the conference finals are often more exciting, with the grand finale serving as an anti-climax in which advertisements provide much of the entertainment. So what made this year’s state final contest so special? Well, for starters it went down to the wire. Centerville was rallying when it ended, Moeller had just used a timeout because their 14-8 lead was now 14-12 and there’s that momentum thing for which volleyball is famous. Plus, the match featured outstanding play by both teams and Moeller had to win it. Close games that feature sloppy play with one team finally succumbing to the other may be exciting but, like movies with lots of action and poor acting, they are enjoyed for the moment and soon forgotten. In this match the play was as outstanding as it was intense. The hitting featured a nice mix of line drive rockets, knock down kills and tips into hard to find holes. The passing and setting were stellar, as they must be for sustained offensive firepower. Both teams made great diving digs and one handed saves, and balls were often kept in play by the sheer will of a defender to let nothing drop. Then there was drama, which was provided in spades as fans never knew what to expect. For much of the time the teams traded serves and when that happens in rally, a two point difference is big. But there were runs too – big ones at crucial times! Moeller extricated itself from a deep 18-24 hole in game three in what proved to be pivotal. Centerville didn’t blink after Moeller’s rally and never trailed in game four. When Crusader middle hitter Dustin Hunter blocked Dan Cullis to tie it at 19-all, the Elks responded with a six point burst to force the climatic tiebreaker. Elks’ coach Pat Reynolds said afterwards that his team missed some opportunities, but “we came back in the fourth game and that says a lot about the character of these guys. They left it all on the floor and Moeller had to earn it”. In fact, both teams literally left everything on the floor and that says it all about this state championship confrontation between the Crusaders and Elks. Game one set the stage for the match as the scoring went back and forth with most points coming on kills, blocks, and service aces. Only five tallies were scored on errors. Centerville displayed offensive depth with Dan Cullis, Ryan Devine, Greg Caylor, Tyler Jolley, Jameson Hartke taking turns scoring and sophomore Ryan Versen putting up one great set after another. Moeller was led by Ohio Player of the Year outside hitter Robbie Klein who contributed seven points. But Mark Wimmers, left hander Keith Bradner, Dustin Hunter and Ryan Trainor kept the Elks’ defense honest, with junior setter Chris Lovett handling the setting. The game was notable for crisp hitting and blocks, especially partial blocks, as, almost every hit was touched. Klein scored a knock down kill to tie it at 6 and a dump by Bradner, who sets and hits, put the Crusaders up 7-6. The teams traded serves up to 10-10, the Elks moved out to 12-10, Moeller retied it, and the teams parried their way to 15-all. The Elks nosed ahead for good 17-15 on a crosscourt kill by Caylor. Up to now there had been 13 ties and 7 lead exchanges. Centerville added one more point to their lead as the teams traded scores. Finally, Caylor found a hole and, when the ref ruled that a Moeller defender had not pancaked his hit, the Elks had a one game edge. The first game lasted 27 minutes. Had it been played under sideout rules the score would have been 8-5 at the point where it ended. Centerville took an early 5-3 lead in game two, but Moeller rallied ahead 8-5 and 12-6 as Trainor contributed two kills, a block and a jump serve ace. The Crusaders maintained the six point lead most of the way, although the Elks got as close as 20-17. Centerville had solid hitting from Caylor and Cullis but was unable to stop Klein who was involved in nine Crusader points. Hunter’s tip in the middle won it for Moeller. Next came the pivotal third game, which started like the first as the teams exchanged leads until it was 8-all. Jolley contributed three kills and a block for the Elks. Centerville moved ahead 11-8 lead on a kill by Hartke and two Moeller miscues, and then 15-11. After Moeller scored twice, Jolley nailed another kill and blocked Klein to make it 17-13. Moeller closed to 19-18, but Centerville went on a run. Caylor spiked a crosscourt kill and rotated to backcourt. His first jump serve looked long, but Moeller received it and hit an errant spike. Cullis scored a block, Hartke smoked a Crusader overpass of Caylor’s serve, and Caylor’s next serve was dug out of bounds. It was game point but Moeller got a break when game serve ended in the net. Now it was Wimmers’ turn to serve a boatload of points, and he did just that. After a hitting error by the Elks, Bradner and Klein scored kills. Centerville called timeout but to no avail as Klein rejected a spike and the Elks made an error. Klein’s block on the next volley tied it. After another timeout, the Elks edged back in front on a kill by Cullis, but Klein parried with a spike that was blocked out of bounds. Hartke put the Elks back on top, but Bradner tied it again on a kill through a double block. And now Moeller coach Greg Ulland made a key substitution sending Matt McGlauthlin in to serve. McGlauthin had not played in a match for a month, but Ulland wanted the best available server in the lineup and the junior libero/outside hitter was it. Moeller scored the go ahead point after a ragged, frantic volley on which McGlauthin made three digs, one that left him face down sprawled out on the floor. When McGlauthin encored with an ace the entire Moeller team exploded onto the floor. Ulland explained afterward that McGlauthin lives for the very situation he was thrust into, adding that “Matt has the heart of a winner”. By the way, under sideout rules Moeller would have taken a 12-10 lead on McGlauthin’s ace, not have won 28-26. At any rate Centerville was not through, not by a long shot, and they never trailed in game four. The game was close though and Moeller tied it five times, the last two at 12-12 and finally 19-19. And then, like in game three, the Elks went on a run, only this time they finished it. Devine began with a kill, Jolley scored a kill and followed with a block (after Cullis kept a missile from Klein in play), Cullis served an ace, and Moeller committed a hitting error. Cullis’ final serve was too hot to handle and the match was tied. Centerville drew first blood in the tiebreaker with Caylor blocking a dump attempt by Lovett, then going up 2-1 on a blast by Cullis that was dug into the wall. But the Crusaders kept pace and, when the score reached 6-6, they went on a big run started when a smash by Klein was blocked way out. Klein then served an ace into Centerville’s backcourt, and when Centerville’s next hit was long the Elks called timeout. This was to no avail as Klein’s next serve was dug out of bounds, and Wimmers followed with a cross court kill on a set from Kevin Tobias, who was pinch hitting as setter (or pinch setting to be precise). Another timeout was to no avail either as Moeller went up 12-6. But Caylor came to the Elks’ rescue, scoring a crosscourt kill, then blocking Lovett. Wimmers nipped this rally in the bud with a kill followed by a block on Cullis, to put Moeller on the cusp at 14-8. A serving error gave new life to Centerville, and after two Crusader errors and an ace by Versen, it was 14-12. Now it was Moeller who called a timeout and this break in the action served its purpose as Hunter put down a short set kill that cleared the Centerville defense and smashed into their backcourt. This was the first state title in volleyball for Moeller’s current players but not for their coaches. Both Ulland and Assistant Coach Joe Burke played on the 1997 team on which Meyer coached. Ulland also helps coach girls volleyball at Mount Notre Dame and was involved in three of their titles. Ulland called this championship the sweetest “because of the type of match it was and because we earned every point and so did Centerville”. Meyer couldn’t say which was sweeter because “every title is so different”. He said this year’s squad succeeded because “they worked very hard in the weight room and open gym and came together as a team”. Centerville Coach Reynolds concurred on the team aspect. He said he was amazed how together Moeller was when they won Centerville’s Elite Tournament in April, noting that “they were bigger than the sum of their parts”. Ulland was his choice for Coach of the Year. Winning a state title wasn’t totally new to all the players either. Middle hitter Ryan Trainor played on Moeller’s basketball team that won the State in Division I in 2003. But he said “This is the biggest win for me now, this is great”. Then he smiled and added “I can always use another ring”. Trainor, who also started on Moeller’s football team, said he wasn’t nervous in the third game when Wimmers came up to serve, adding “I knew Mark would come through for us”. Wimmers admitted to being a little nervous but said he knew he would put the ball in. He and two other teammates played on a 17’s team last summer that won National’s, and he felt that experience helped in the situations Moeller encountered all season including the final. Players in many states consider the JO season to be more important, but Wimmers says “the state tournament is so much more and we use the JO season to prepare for it”. Klein, also a member of that National’s team, said Moeller won because his team had a lot of heart. “The match went back and forth…we wanted it more”. He is right on about the heart, but it’s hard to say who wanted it more given the way both teams played. When you put two great teams together, one will win and one won’t even if they are complete equals. Green Bay football coaching legend Vince Lombardi once said “The Packers never lose, but sometimes the clock runs out on us”. And neither team lost this championship match, not given the way it was played. A football clock is measured in minutes and seconds. Volleyball has a clock too, only it uses points and games. And when Dustin Hunter found the open backcourt the clock ran out on Centerville.
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