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Mt. Notre Dame wins fifth state title, Walsh Jesuit suffers painful loss November 12, 2006 By Jim Jicha Mt. Notre Dame won the battle of GGCL schools over Mother of Mercy 25-16, 25-22, 14-15, 25-15 to claim their fifth state crown. Each team registered 49 kills but Mercy committed ten more errors which was one factor in their defeat. Coach Denise Harvey also thought intangibles that don’t show up in the stats also played a role, such as handling of free balls, being in system, and maintaining composure and consistency. Those are areas she felt her team could have improved upon. Momentum also played a part. Two other factors were Mt. Notre Dame’s 6’2” junior middle Rachael Adams, who was unstoppable and had a career night with 24 kills, and junior libero Abbie Reese who stopped everything that came her way and had 20 digs. Adams repeatedly spiked straight down kills that simply could not be dug. Reese repeatedly dove to the floor to dig spikes and save errant passes. On one play in game four she made three difficult saves before 6’1” senior middle Lindsay Upton, who had ten kills, put it away. Mercy fell behind early in game one 10-2 on kills by Adams and two aces by Upton. The Bobcats never scored more than two points at a time and could not recover. In game two they again fell behind, 7-1, as Upton spiked two kills and Cougar setter Rachel Rohlfs served two aces. But Mercy rallied behind 6’0” junior Missy Harpenau and junior middle Kelly O’Conner, scoring three in a row four times, and eventually leading 17-15. Unfortunately, three of those runs ended on serving errors. And after another Bobcat service error knotted the game at 18, Mt. Notre Dame went back on top on two kills by Adams and an ace by defender Liane Rousseau, who also had eight digs on the night. Mindy Stanislovaitis demolished a kill for game point after a somersault dig by Reese prevented Mercy from closing the gap. Game three was all Mercy with sophomore Stephanie Vorherr serving ten points on an ace, two kills by Harpenau and Colleen Meyers and several attack errors by the Cougars. But Mercy could not maintain the momentum and Mt. Notre Dame took quick control of game four, going up 10-3 and increasing the lead throughout as Adams pounded out nine kills. Her last one was point 24 which sent her bounding to the bench in eager anticipation. Upton rotated to the front, and one Mercy point later, finished the job. Mt. Notre Dame coach Donna Mechley said her Cougars came ready to play. They had a team meeting that morning where they watched film and prepared mentally for Mercy. Mechley added that her team had shown in the way they beat Seton and Ursuline in regionals that they weren’t fooling around. As for winning state, Mechley felt it was sweeter than bragging rights for Cincinnati. Upton said winning it all had been in the back of her mind as a freshman, and having lost the semifinal last year to Toledo St. Ursula, “you can’t get that close and not win it”. Stanislovaitis, who had seven kills, added “we knew we could win because we had an army”. The Cougars wear army fatigues, or at least they’re made to look like fatigues, for warm-ups, and the student cheering section calls Upton “our soldier”. The “army” stuff got started began because the Cougars have eighteen players on the team, which when they take warm-ups does seem like an army. Outside hitter Cassie Vome chose to play volleyball because of Mt. Notre Dame’s program. She talked about all the work adding, “you have to do this to win”, recalling how bad it felt to lose last year. On another note, Adams was asked if she was being recruited. She understated with “Umm…yeah!” Mechley interjected that Adams is the top recruit nationally in her class. She showed why tonight. ******************************************************************************* “It was very tight, and it came down to a few plays”. That’s what Walsh Jesuit coach Missy Christ said about her team’s almost upending Archbishop Alter in the District II final. The Knights pulled it out 25-21, 14-25, 27-25, 25-23. Last year Walsh pushed Roger Bacon to four and in 2004 West Holmes fought Roger Bacon tooth and nail, before losing game three by two, but not since Galion won in 2000 had anybody played Alter or Bacon an entire championship match on even terms. Walsh had good chances to win games three and four, but they could not finish either and Alter did what they needed to win. In doing so, they survived an onslaught by Ohio State bound outside hitter Katie Dull that included 34 kills, eight aces and 19 digs. Of course, the Knights put up some numbers too, Sarah Fisher with 24 kills and six aces and Emily Borchers with 17 digs. Walsh took a 5-1 lead in game one, with Dull contributing four kills, and Alter moved on top 8-6 as Fisher contributed four aces. The Warriors rallied back ahead 11-8 still led 16-14, when Alter scored six straight to go ahead for good. Fisher led the rally with Monica Lachey and Lauren Woeste teaming on a block, and from there the teams basically traded points. Alter led the first part of game two until Mandi Rowell scored three kills in a row to start what turned into a 20-6 Walsh Jesuit run to the finish. With Walsh down 17-14 in game three, hitting and serving sensation Katie Dull scored a kill, and after junior middle Anne Dorff blocked Alter’s top hitter Sarah Fisher, Dull served three aces. This put Walsh up a point, but the next serve was in the net. Now, that comes with jump serve territory, and three aces was a fair trade for the error. But after outside Emily Vassil put the Warriors back on top with a kill, there came another service error. And when Mandi Rowell scored a kill for yet another lead, there followed a hitting error. Alter outside Katie Laravie then smashed a short set to give her team the edge. Warrior setter Rachel Rodriguez scored a dump to tie it at 21 and, more importantly, bring Katie Dull to front row. But Alter sophomore Monica Lachey nailed a clutch kill to tamper things. Dull scored on the next volley, but Laravie followed with a nicely placed tip by the left line and followed with an ace, giving Alter the lead 24-22. Dull smashed two terminations to tie, only to have Alter go ahead on another clutch kill, this time from Fisher. Dull retied it with a straight down spike, then sent an ace screaming low over the net. Her next serve was fine, but Alter dug it and soon after Fisher blistered a tying point down the right. She then attacked from the left sending the go ahead point to the back middle, and when Walsh followed with a hitting error, a game that could have gone either way belonged to Alter. Alter scored first in game four, but Walsh jumped ahead 5-1 on three Dull kills and an ace by Rodriguez. The Warriors maintained the lead until Alter tied at 18, and then they went back up 21-19 on two more kills by Dull followed by an ace. But Fisher responded with a kill and ace of her own, and then scored another kill from back court! Walsh called time to no avail as Lachey scored a kill and Walsh made an error. After another timeout, Alter obliged with two attack errors. But hopes of another tie were squelched when a spike by Laravie was shanked out of bounds. The title was Alter’s third, and to coach Tina Jasinowski this one felt sweeter because of the pain the current group of players felt as sophomores two years ago losing to Benjamin Logan at districts, and then the disappointment at regionals last year against Roger Bacon. She told the team that “everybody who plays volleyball wants to work hard, but if you want to win a state championship you have to go beyond that”. Being in the GGCL helped them go beyond, according to Sarah Fisher, because it provided the practice that made them successful in yesterday’s match. Walsh Jesuit did beat Archbishop Alter in boys soccer for a state championship yesterday. But neither that, nor the fact that Mt. Notre Dame, whom the Warriors beat September 30, won Division I is any consolation. They wanted this state title, and it came down to a couple of plays that didn’t happen. And therein lies pain.
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