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Season finally makes some sense By Jim
Jicha
Hilliard Darby has the best record this year for Central Region teams, with wins over Elder and Stow, and another OCC title under their belts. But if you saw the start of their match with Watterson, you’d have thought the Eagles were the team to beat.
Watterson came to Darby High School fired up. Led by the blocking and hitting of David Yuskewich and Drew Davidson, they raced to leads of 6-0 and 8-1. The Panthers scored two on blocks by Brian Welsh and Jimmy Stern. But Watterson, aided by some Darby mistakes, roared on to a 14-5 edge.
Darby scored three points on the serving of setter Ryan Zelnis. But the Eagles broke serve on a block by Joey Albright and won when a Panther missive sailed out of bounds.
Zelnis nailed two service aces to start the second game, as Darby jumped out 3-0. A kill by Albright gave service to Watterson. Outside hitter Bobby Whitman’s spike got the Eagles rolling again. A kill by Yuskewich and an ace by Albright tied the game. Sophomore Jamie Maag helped with a great dig on a quick kill attempt by Darby.
At this point Darby, led by Josh Harrison, went on a run to go up 10-3. Hitting errors by Watterson helped the Panther’s cause. On one play during the run, Zelnis navigated through traffic and over two fallen teammates to send a ball headed into the bleachers back over the net. Watterson was then called for a violation giving Darby the point.
Trailing 6-14, Watterson started a mini rally. Nick Randolph made a nice save on a smash aimed at his face, and Yuskewich scored two points. But Welsh forced a sideout, and he and Stern teamed for a block to end the game.
Game three went much like the second. Watterson got off to a 3-1 lead, but Darby went on an 8-0 run to take charge. The next eight points on both sides were scored on balls in the net and hitting errors, making the score 13-7 Darby. With the score 14-8, an Eagles’ overpass went to Darby’s 6’5” Ben Willford. The end.
Darby was led by: Zelnis (28 assists) and Stern and Welsh (14 and 10 kills, respectively). Stern and Welsh also had 4 block assists apiece, and they along with Harrison each had one solo block.
Statistics were not available for Watterson. Joey Albright wowed the fans with some great digs, including one in midair as he dove to the floor. Setter Danny Balmert did a nice job keeping Darby’s defense off guard.
Kilbourne took charge at the start of their match with Mount Vernon. The Wolves went up 4-1 with setter Sean Saffell nailing a service ace in a corner on the line. Mount Vernon cut the lead to 4-3, and but the Wolves scored four straight thanks to some errors by the Yellow Jackets.
A kill by Nick Orsborn and a net call on Kilbourne cut the lead to 8-5. With Kilbourne up 9-5, the Wolves’ Justin Douridas served five straight points, including two consecutive aces. Alex Kamenetsky contributed to the run with a kill and a block.
The Jackets rallied to cut the lead to 14-9. But a net call gave service to the Wolves, and when a Mount Vernon spike landed just outside at the corner, the game was over.
The Yellow Jackets came out buzzing in game two. Kilbourne scored first, but after nine sideouts the Jackets went on a series of runs, punctuated by an occasional point for Kilbourne. First it was 3-1, then 7-2, 9-3, 12-4 and 14-5.
The scoring was led by Nick Orsborn and Ryan Doup. Orsborn scored on a kill, a block and an ace. Doup had a great short set kill. He blasted a spike through the block after a set from Orsborn to get it to game point. Alex Shoemaker came up with timely well placed hits to force sideouts when Kilbourne did get the serve.
Kilbourne then rallied for six points. But after a Brian Smith kill made it 14-11, Orsborn’s smash gave Mount Vernon the serve. Wade Laughrey’s spike scored game point, after a ceiling assist on Kilboune’s dig.
Things looked good for Mount Vernon in game three when Kilbourne got the ball snarled in the net on two straight points. But the Jackets were only to score one more point in the match.
Kilbourne went on an eight point rally that started on another ace by Douridas. Matt Lookabaugh and Brian Smith then put on a hitting clinic, Chris Warner scored an ace, and the romp was on. Mount Vernon scored to make it 8-3, but that was their final point.
Lookabaugh tipped a spike straight down at the net, and he and Kamenetsky teamed up to block a spike by Doup. Three more points came on errors. Smith ended it with a smash to deep backcourt.
Elder had little difficulty winning their match over Archbishop Hoban. There were only nine sideouts in the first game as the Panthers cruised 15-1. Elder featured a balanced attack with points coming on kills or blocks by Mark Reinstatler, John Bertke, and Brian Meyers. John Tiemeier scored consecutive service aces. Reinstatler and Scott Spitznagel also scored aces.
Game two was similar, with Hoban forcing more sideouts. Northeast Player of the Year Mike Passarelli had three kills as the teams traded eight service exchanges with the score 11-2. But Elder sophomore Mark Lucas teamed with junior setter Rob Hyde for two blocks. Lucas smashed Hoban’s overpass of Kurt Gindling’s serve to seal the victory.
St. Xavier had the closest call of anyone as they hung on to nip LaSalle 15-13, 11-15, 15-11. It was the teams’ second meeting this year. St. X also won the first match in three. Moeller had some difficulty with Roger Bacon, winning 15-11, 15-6.
Over in the Northwest, Dublin Scioto took a close two game match from Fairborn 15-13, 15-10 and Centerville breezed past Chaminade-Julienne 15-3, 15-4.
Looking ahead to the quarterfinals, there are some interesting match ups on Friday, including two league rivalries.
Moeller will jump right into the fire to face Elder. The Crusaders won the regular season ending GCL Showcase, while Elder finished third. However, the last time Moeller and Elder squared off against each other, the Panthers won in three.
Dublin Scioto gets one more shot at Darby, a league rival the Irish have been trying to upend for three years. Darby won both regular season meetings in competitive two game matches.
In other action, Worthington Kilbourne takes on Centerville, while Stow battles St. Xavier.
Moeller may have the biggest challenge of anyone to win the State. Assuming the top ranked teams win in the other bracket, the Crusaders would have to beat Elder, Centerville and St. Xavier in that order to win it all.
Those three, plus Moeller, are the top four teams in the state according to the Coaches’ Poll. And Moeller is currently 3-4 against those three opponents.
So mark your calendars for 3:00 P.M. Friday at Cleveland State. This rollercoaster season is heading for its final loop. We’ll see which train makes it to the end.
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