Ohiohsvb.com News About Ohio High School Volleyball

5/23/09 - Lakota West shrugged off a first game loss and nipped Beavercreek 18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 33-31 in a West regional semifinal Thursday evening. The Firebirds were paced offensively by Chris Stanislovaitis with 17 kills and 8 blocks. Dylan Kembre added with 16 more kills, while Brennan Wilder led the defense with 6 digs.

Games three and four were very evenly matched, with each team playing solid defense and smart offense. The teams traded off game points starting at 24 in game four, and each had multiple chances before West ended it off a great hit by Dave Lendl.

The Firebirds will face Kettering Fairmont today for a state quarterfinal berth. The Fairmont Firebirds advanced with a straight set 25-18, 29-27, 27-25 win over scrappy Northmont. Taking full advantage of some Fairmont service errors, the Thunderbolts served for game point in games two and three, but Fairmont’s serve receive was solid and kept them alive both times.

The Firebirds were led by Mike Tabisz with17 kills, junior libero Mark Cridge with 17 digs and setter Dan Wagner who put up 36 assists. Tabisz earlier established a new single match record of 29 kills and needs only 11 more for the season record. Cridge is now Fairmont’s record holder for digs in a match record, 24, and season with 243.

5/20/09 - State tourney preview: St. Xavier and Roger Bacon favored in close calls

5/19/09 - St. Edward libero Rhett Cash named to Volleyball 2009 Boys Fab 50 team (Volleyball Magazine)

5/18/09 - Mt. Vernon eases past St. Charles in state tourney tune-up

5/16/09 - Moeller wrapped up the regular season with an 18-25, 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 17-15 home win over Elder last night.

5/14/09 - LaSalle snuffed out Elder’s hopes for a three-way first place tie in the GCL South with a heart thumping 25-23, 25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 15-13 decision over the Panthers. This came just three days after Elder nipped the Lancers 25-23, 26-24 for third place in the Buckeye Classic.

Coach Brian Meyer attributed the Lancer victory to “playing as a team”, noting his squad minimized errors and, except for game three, prevented long runs by Elder. Game five was back and forth intense until LaSalle surged to 14-11 on a three point run. On the ensuing volley, a big Lancer block went straight down but landed just out of bounds. Elder aced to close to 14-13, but their next serve went out.

Meyer said “Both teams played an amazing hard fought game”, and added “I would expect the same for both matches on Friday”, when LaSalle meets St. Xavier and Elder tangles with Moeller.

St. Xavier, meanwhile, avenged title match losses to Moeller in the Centerville Elite and Buckeye Classic with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-22 home win over the Crusaders to clinch at least a first place in the GCL South.

5/13/09 - Mt. Vernon started strong in game one, rallied in game three and stayed in control of game four to defeat Worthington Kilbourne 25-18, 23-25, 26-24, 25-21 in the OCC Challenge feature match at Hilliard Darby High School last night. The annual Challenge pits teams from the three OCC divisions against each other based on their standings. Mt. Vernon and Kilbourne were champions of the Capital and Ohio divisions, respectively.

This was Mt. Vernon’s second win over the Wolves in three days – the Yellow Jackets bested them last Saturday for the Silver title in the Buckeye Classic.

Junior setter/opposite Carter Cassell paced Mt. Vernon with 28 assists, 18 kills and six blocks. Chris Ingersol, also a junior setter/opposite, dished out 23 more assists, while Chris Hinger, Ben Bennett and Chris Omahan combined for 27 more kills.

Prior to the match the OCC awards were handed out, and Mt. Vernon junior setter/opposite Carter Cassell repeated as OCC Player of the Year. Mt. Vernon Coach Alan Cassell was named OCC Coach of the Year.

Next up for the Yellow Jackets is a just added home match against Division II power St. Charles on Thursday at 6:00 (admission is free).

In other Challenge matches, Capital co-champ and host Darby downed Cardinal co-champ Olentangy Liberty, while Pickerington North defeated Westerville North, the other Cardinal co-champ.

5/13/09 - Recap of past two weeks

5/10/09 - St. Xavier volleyball has unfinished business (Community Press, by Mark Chalifoux)

5/10/09 - Spartans find success on volleyball court (Community Press, by Mark Chalifoux)

5/5/09 - Archbishop Moeller topples St. Xavier in final to win "strongest ever" Centerville Elite

5/4/09 - Moeller volleyball impresses on, off the court (Community Press, by Mark Chalifoux)

4/24/09 - McNicholas volleyball reloads (Community Press, by Mark Chalifoux)

Team play fuels Aves volleyball (Community Press, by Mark Chalifoux)

4/24/09 - St. Ignatius gained a straight set, albeit highly contested, 25-20, 28-26, 27-25 win over Archbishop Hoban on Tuesday as Greg Herceg smashed 19 more kills to break the school record 18 he just set last Saturday. Ben Woods fueled the offense with 39 assists, Mike Messina led the defense with 15 digs, and Matthias Doherty and Tim Hark also contributed to the scoring with five blocks and four aces, respectively.

4/22/09 - The Centerville Elite tournament will be held this Saturday at Centerville High School. Starting time is 10:00 A.M. This year's edition promises to be a great one - Ohio's top eight Division I teams will be there.

4/20/09 - Cleveland St. Ignatius captured its first ever Wolf Invitational tournament crown on Saturday with a 25-19, 25-23, 25-21 decision over Cincinnati LaSalle. Though it is hosted by Worthington Kilbourne, this is the first time since at least 2003 that a non-Cincinnati school has won. St. Xavier topped St. Edward for the crown last season, and LaSalle titled in 2007 with a win over Hilliard Darby.

Senior 6’4" opposite hitter Greg Herceg paced St. Ignatius with a school record 18 kills, and 6’5” middle Pat Adler added 11 more. Setter Ben Woods put up 38 assists while Tim Hark led the defense with seven digs.

Walsh Jesuit won the Silver Bracket to give northeast Ohio a sweep.

Pickerington North and Kettering Fairmont both won quads last weekend.

Division I turned into a jumble as a result of action late last week. It began when Elder knocked Centerville from the ranks of the unbeaten (see news from 4/17/09). The Elks, however, rebounded on Friday with a 25-23, 27-25, 30-32, 26-24 conquest of undefeated St. Xavier.

The Bombers rallied from 22-24 to tie up game two on a Chad Jennings kill and a Centerville serve receive miscue. Following an exchange of errors, Centerville won out on a spike by junior middle Kevin Timperman and a back row kill from by 6’4” outside Eric Wohlford.

St. Xavier held a 24-21 lead in game three, but Centerville whittled that away to force overtime, which went back and forth as the teams traded great points coupled with errors. Centerville lost two match point opportunities and the Bombers misfired on five game points. Chad Jennings blocked Timperman to put the Bombers up 30-29, and after Sean Hayes retied with a cross court blast, St. Xavier finally prevailed when their kill was followed by a Centerville serve receive error.

The Bombers jumped to a 5-2 set four lead, which proved to be the biggest margin for either team. Centerville rallied to tie 14-14 and briefly took a one-point lead for a few back and forth plays. But St. X blocked for a 21-19 lead, and although Timperman tempered with a kill, that was negated by a service error. But Elk’s middle John Griggs scored a kill and a Bomber attack error left things deadlocked at 22.

Centerville then obliged with two errors of their own to put St. Xavier on the verge of forcing a fifth game, but Wohlford and outside hitter Sean Hayes knotted things back up with kills. Griggs spiked the Elks to their third match point try, and when St. Xavier was called for a third contact double hit after a block by Hayes, the match was over.

Wohlford led the Elks offense with 19 kills, while Bryan Gorsuch paced the defense with 24 digs. Griggs and Timperman combined for 12 blocks and setter Andrew Ervin had 34 assists.

Division II also became more muddled with youthful Archbishop Hoban’s 21-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 15-13 win last Thursday at St. Charles. The Cardinals had been on a roll, their only loss to date to St. Xavier in a tiebreaker championship finale in their own St. Charles Classic. Hoban finished fourth in that event, and the Knights were visibly upset in their team huddle at the conclusion of that tournament.

Thursday’s match up was an intensely fought battle pitting Hoban’s middles against the Cardinals’ outsides. Hoban junior Adam Weaver and sophomore Mikey Sokol spiked 18 and 10 kills, respectively, with only six errors between them. The two teamed up with junior setter Willy Veverka for 34 blocks in play. Veverka also put up 34 assists in what a St. Charles fan described as a “setting clinic”.

Many of the Knights' blocks did not score thanks to the acrobatics of Cardinal libero Zach Hartmann, of whom Hoban Coach Matt Mihelic said afterward “I hope someone kept his stats because he did a phenomenal job picking up our blocks.”

Unfortunately, stats on Hartmann were not available, but he is thought to have had "a few dozen digs". Outside hitters Ned Gruber, Damon DiSabato and Matt VanVolkenburg paced the Cardinals' offense.

Elsewhere, Cincinnati Sycamore moved into a virtual tie for second in the GMC with a 25-18, 25-15, 24-26, 25-14 win over Lakota East, which also gave Lakota West sole position of first place. Sycamore will be rooting for East to knock off West this Thursday and force a three-way tie. West nipped Sycamore 22-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13 earlier in the season.

4/17/09 - Defending Division II state champion Archbishop Hoban outlasted St. Charles in a 21-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 15-13 thriller last night. St. Charles’ only other loss to date came in the title match of the St. Charles Classic at the hands of undefeated and top ranked Division I power St. Xavier 25-15, 23-25, 25-17. Hoban finished fourth in that tournament.

Elsewhere, Elder handed Centerville its first loss in a 25-23, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20 decision. The Panthers were led by outside Clancy Gay with 14 kills and 15 digs, who along with 6’5” middle Jake Neiheisel and Matt Harpenau combined for 15 blocks. Outside hitter C. J. Zureick added 11 kills.

Top ranked and undefeated St. Xavier will host Centerville tonight. The Bombers have already dispatched Elder, Archbishop Moeller and LaSalle once each to claim sole possession of first place in the GLC South.

In OCC action, Hilliard Darby downed arch rival Davidson 25-16, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19 on the road to take sole possession of first place in their OCC division. The Panthers nipped Worthington Kilbourne 25-15, 27-29, 25-18, 21-25, 17-15 at home last week. Mt. Vernon, which beat Darby in four on Tuesday, leads their division after downing Pickerington North 25-18, 16-25, 25-15, 25-22.

Mount Vernon's junior setting/opposite tandem of Carter Cassell and Chris Ingersol combined for 18 kills, 44 assists and 10 blocks against Pickerington North. Ben Bennett and Trey Williams contributed 11 more blocks. Cassell paced the Yellow Jackets with 14 kills against Darby, followed by Chris Hinger with 11. Williams and Bennett together tallied 15 blocks.

Despite the presence of but one senior, Lakota East is off to a 6-1 start. The Thunderhawks, whose only loss came to Bishop Watterson in the Silver Bracket final at the St. Charles Classic, are led by junior 2008 Honorable Mention All-West setter Austin Weinheimer. Against Fairfield last week, sophomore outside Wes Meyer pounded out 20 kills and had 13 blocks. East will face 7-1 rival Lakota West next Thursday in what could decide the GMC title.

In a score of note, Elder pulled out all the stops in game three to defeat Roger Bacon 25-16, 25-17, 34-32 on Tuesday. Roger Bacon leads the GLC Central, having upended Archbishop McNicholas last week in four.

St. Edward went 4-0 at the St. Ignatius Invitational on April 3-4, beating the host Wildcats and Worthington Kilbourne in the process. The Eagles were led by Ohio State bound libero Rhett Cash and freshman middle blocker Owen McAndrews. They also beat Archbishop Hoban three nights and are now 8-1, their only blemish an opening weekend loss to Mt. Vernon in a tri-match with Hilliard Davidson where everyone finished 1-1.

St. Ignatius also defeated Kilbourne at their Invitational. The Wildcats were led by Greg Herceg and Pat Adler with 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Setter Ben Woods put up 37 assists, libero Mike Messina had 25 digs and Adler also contributed eight blocks.

St. Charles Classic final might have been a match up of state champions

Volleyball team on mission to win state title (thisweeknews.com, by Patrick Dolan)

Elder volleyball set to defend state crown (Community Press, by Tony Meale)

St. Charles Cardinal Classic Results

State Preview - With no clear favorites, St. Xavier and Archbishop McNicholas get pre-season nods