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Ami Stevens unstoppable as Centerburg wins first title

By Jim Jicha 

St. Henry found out in Saturday’s state final what other Centerburg opponents have been learning all year – you can’t stop Ami Stevens. Kidron Central Christian couldn’t stop her in the semifinal. Frankfort Adena, with one of their best teams ever, couldn’t stop her in the regional final.

And St. Henry didn’t stop the Ohio State bound hitting sensation either, as the second ranked Trojans knocked off the top ranked Redskins 15-9, 15-12 to win their first championship in their sixth appearance at the Nutter Center.

Stevens racked up 24 kills in 62 attacks. By comparison St. Henry’s entire team had 24 kills in 97 attacks.

And Stevens was an offensive machine in the back row. Besides scoring on some backcourt smashes, the 6’1” hitter smoked six jump serve aces. She also made some great passes, enabling Tiffany Milburn to put down timely kills and keep St. Henry's defense honest.

Afterward Centerburg Coach Lisa Boron would say “Ami is always fired up, always focused…she makes everyone around her better”.

The Trojans had come close before – tantalizingly close. In their first trip to state in 1991 they treated fans to one of the greatest momentum shift matches in state tourney history to defeat Buckeye Central in the semifinal.

The Trojans rallied from 2-13 in the first game only to lose a 9-5 lead in the second. In the rubber match they led 3-0, trailed 10-3, led 14-11, lost that lead and then survived a sideout spiking war to prevail 18-16.

But they lost that year's final to West Unity Hilltop 15-13, 17-15.

Stevens remembers those matches. She was only five years old at the time but she was in the Nutter Center with that team.

Hopewell-Loudon beat Centerburg for the title in 2000, and again in 2001 when the Trojans outscored the Chieftains 14-16, 15-2, 11-15.

Last year Centerburg lost a semifinal to Marion Local 17-15, 8-15, 7-15.

Stevens played in those matches.

This is Stevens’ senior year and she wanted this one for all the players who’d been there before and didn’t get to taste the victory.

Centerburg has also been frustrated in the rankings, often close to number one, but not quite there. No matter how good a year they have, someone else is always deemed a little better.

This year that someone was St. Henry who was ranked number one all season. Centerburg finished number two. St. Henry had played the tougher schedule and they had beaten stronger teams --  so they were number one.

Then came last Saturday and the Trojans finally put to rest all the memories of the near misses and the all talk about tougher schedules. 

Centerburg used big runs in Saturday’s final to beat the taller Redskins. In game one the Trojans led much of the way, with St. Henry rallying for ties. In game two the Trojans put together a huge run to overcome a big St. Henry lead.

The Redskins scored first on an errant Trojan hit, but Stevens served notice of things to come by hammering spikes to force two sideouts. When St. Henry’s Maria Wuebker dug one smash Stevens simply terminated the play with her next missile.

The teams traded points and then Centerburg scored five straight to go in front 6-2. Stevens scored on a kill, service ace and line drive dig that landed on St. Henry’s floor, and Milburn added a kill. A lift ended the run.

With Lindsay Hess serving the Redskins rallied for a tie. Lindsay Puthoff scored two points on blocks.

Kills by Milburn and Jessica Parker put the Trojans up 8-6, but after mistakes by both teams the score was 9-9 with St. Henry serving.

Stevens got a smashing kill for sideout and rotated to back row, which normally would be a good thing for an opponent. But Stevens had recently perfected her jump serve, and her going to the service line turned into a disaster for the Redskins as she streaked three aces their way. The second hit a hole in the middle and the third landed on the back line.

Centerburg’s next two points came on errant Redskin hits, and Stevens had a hand in one of those when her diving dig kept a volley going.

Stevens rubbed in some salt with another ace to end the game.

Scoring in game two started with a bang for Centerburg when an overpass of Parker’s serve found its way to Stevens. But Puthoff slammed a kill off a block by Stevens and Lindsey Hess’s block of Stevens was blocked out of bounds by the Trojans. After another St. Henry point Stevens tied it at 2 apiece with a tip block into a hole.

Then Hess nailed a kill down the line and Centerburg began making mistakes, as the Redskins scored six points in a row on four errors and kills by Nicole Elking and Puthoff. After every point the teams traded sideouts, and Stevens had three more kills. But Christie Hess and Puthoff countered with kills of their own to shut out the Trojans.

Centerburg called timeout when the margin reached 7-2, and Stevens then killed for sideout. But Puthoff smashed a kill through Stevens block to keep St. Henry's run alive and a net foul made it 8-2.

The teams traded points on errors and then Stevens landed another ace on St. Henry’s back line.

Elking forced a sideout and Lindsay Hess blocked Milburn to put the Redskins up 10-4. However, Milburn came right back and forced a sideout. She then slammed a spike to the corner starting a rally that carried Trojans to the brink of victory.

With the score 10-6 Milburn went back to serve and Stevens went on another rampage, this time in the front row, tying the game on tips and spikes. An errant Redskin hit put the Trojans on top, and when St. Henry lifted a Stevens block it was 12-10.

A long intense volley followed with St. Henry spikes forcing bad passes and keeping Stevens from getting solid shots. Both teams came up with desperation saves. Finally a St. Henry hit sailed out, and a Redskin lift brought Centerburg to match point.

Then came what has to be one of the longest volleys ever as St. Henry pulled out all the stops to stay alive. And at long last an error by Stevens turned the serve over.

Cami Lefeld and Puthoff blocked for a point. The teams exchanged six sideouts and the tension increased on every sideout with St. Henry trying to keep it going and Centerburg not wanting to see another title slip away.

A service error gave sideout to the Trojans but Puthoff blocked Stevens to get it back. She then dug a Stevens blast, but the dig went to the Trojans' Ashley Stambaugh who buried it.

Lefeld had a block for sideout, but St. Henry committed a net foul.

Lindsey Hess then nailed two kills in a row, the second cutting the lead to 14-12. But on the next volley Milburn’s spike gave the serve back to the Trojans.

It was then that Centerburg setter Bryee Hawkins came up with her only kill of the match. It was surely the biggest kill of her life.

While Stevens and Milburn provided much of the the offensive punch, let's not overlook Lindsay Reynolds who contributed 14 digs and Jessica Parker who added 12 more. 

Coach Boron was asked afterward what was said in Centerburg’s last timeout. Very simply she told the kids they had to battle back point by point, and not let them (St. Henry) get further ahead. And so they did. 

Stevens talked about St. Henry’s triple blocking and how she tried to find ways around it. Which she did quite effectively.

When asked if she was tired near the end she said “I just wanted to get the game over with” and pausing, then laughed with an afterthought “so we could get our trophy”.

She talked about her jump serving that abruptly ended game one and described how “after the first serve went over it felt very very nice”.

Her final comment was about her team. She emphasized how important the rest of her team was to their winning and she summed it up with this tribute.

“My teammates have been awesome this season”.

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St. Henry beat Fort Jennings in Friday’s semifinal 15-4, 15-1 in a match that lasted only 25 minutes. The Redskins had four players with four kills each. They out blocked their shorter opponents 5-1. Lindsay Puthoff made seven digs.

Jenna VonLehmden and Abby Trenkamp had two kills each for Fort Jennings. Danielle Schuerman led with six digs, and Laura Ricker had five.

Christa Schwartz started St. Henry off with a service ace. Christie Hess made it 2-0 with a block, but Trenkamp countered with a kill and a block to put the Musketeers on the board. St. Henry moved ahead 4-1 on a kill by Lindsay Hess and a block by Puthoff.

But the Musketeers kept pace with VonLehmden contributing a kill and Erica Metzger scoring a block. After the Redskins moved ahead 6-3, VonLehmden spiked for a sideout and Fort Jennings scored on a hitting error.

Unfortunately for Fort Jennings, St. Henry scored the next 19 points to win game one and go up 10-0 in game two. Elking served seven straight with Christie Hess scoring two kills and a block, Puthoff and Lanee Mikesell a double block and Lindsay Hess a block. The Redskins’ final point came on a hitting error.

Maria Wuebker opened game two with an ace as she served the first ten points. Schuerman served an ace for Fort Jennings, but Puthoff’s tip ended their scoring. Puthoff served an ace, and her next serve was dug into the net. Lindsay Hess and Lefeld teamed up for a block. After two sideouts, Kim Hess swerved an ace and Lindsay Hess’ block ended the match.

There were only five sideouts in game two.

St. Henry coach Lori Schwieterman said her team did a “great job of blocking”. She downplayed the margin of victory noting that she has lost 14-1 leads before.

When asked about St. Henry’s expectations for the season Schwieterman pointed out that St. Henry’s season started at a tournament last summer at Walt Disney World.

That magical place is perhaps the ideal spot for starting a dream season that ends in a state title. But wherever a season starts, the state title is decided at the Nutter Center.

And there was no Disney magic at the Nutter Center on Saturday.

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Looking at the stats from Friday’s match between Centerburg and Kidron Central Christian its hard to believe the score was so close. The Trojans won 15-7, 15-13, but they came very close to losing the second game and who knows what would have happened then.

But Centerburg had an overwhelming edge in kills 34-15. So what happened? The Trojans committed a lot of errors that scored points for their opponents is what happened --  five in game one and seven more in game two. They hit three straight out at a crucial point in game two.

Behind the serving of Tiffany Milburn Centerburg raced to a quick 5-0 lead in game one as Ami Stevens scored on a block and three kills. But Sarah Zeltman’s kill off a slide ended the run and Centerburg obliged with three miscues.

Jessica Parker scored for the Trojans when she got a line drive dig over and it fell to the floor. But the Trojans were then called for four hits and they followed that up by hitting the ball in the net. This made it 6-4.

Stevens’ kill from backcourt prevented further damage, and at this point Milburn took charge. She hit a tip which was lifted, had a spike blocked out, hit another spike that led to a hitting error and, after another Kidron error, scored on another tip.

That made it 11-4, but Kidron scored another point on a lift. Milburn served three more points to make it 14-5 as Stevens got a block and kill.

After five sideouts Zeltman and LuAnn Markley scored on a double block and Rachel Thompson nailed an ace.

Stevens dashed hopes for a rally with a kill, and Milburn hammered down the game winner for Centerburg.

Kidron scored first in the second game with Zeltman and Tamara Meyer blocking Milburn. However Milburn pounded her next spike down the right line, and after Zeltman and Stevens traded kills Centerburg got rolling.

Micah Martin turned a bad pass into a tip into a hole for a score. Stevens had a kill and a Comets hit was out, making it 3-1.

But Kidron went on a big rally and moved in front 8-3.

Zeltman spiked a kill, then blocked Stevens. Kristi Beun scored on a kill. Another Kidron hit was blocked into the antenna. Three more points came on Trojan errors.

Milburn’s kill returned serve to Centerburg and Bryee Hawkins hit two aces. Milburn kept a bad pass in play and scored a kill later in the play.

The Trojans hit one out to turn the serve over, this coming after the Comets made a great dig on Milburn. Zeltman then blocked Milburn to put Kidron up 9-6.

Now Stevens took over. Her kill from back court moved her to front row and put Milburn at the line. That resulted in the double-whammy of a Stevens kill and a Milburn ace. Two sideouts later, Stevens poured it on with a kill and two blocks and Katie Kidwell served an ace. Centerburg was on the move with a 12-9 lead.

And then disaster struck Centerburg when, after a sideout kill by the Comets’ Crystal Steiner, the Trojans committed three straight errant hits. When Meyer blasted a spike down in Centerburg’s backcourt Kidron was back on top at 13-12.

Centerburg got a break when a back court shot by Stevens bounced off the top of the net into a hole on Kidron’s side. Now the Comets made two errors to put the Trojans at match point.

Two sideouts later Hawkins served and Milburn drilled home the winning spike to send Centerburg to the final for the fourth time.