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Norwalk St. Paul used defense to stop New Knoxville for Division IV state title

December 21, 2006

By Jim Jicha

Sixth ranked Norwalk St. Paul garnered their second state title in five seasons with a hard fought 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21 win over New Knoxville. Both teams finished at 26-3.

This year’s appearance in the final four was the Flyers’ third straight. They previously won it all in 2002 and were runner-ups in 2004. 

For New Knoxville, it was their first ever final. The Rangers made one other semifinal appearance in 1989. 

Getting to state three years running was no small feat for the Flyers, whose district includes always powerful Buckeye Central, plus Bucyrus Wynford and Seneca East. Central was ranked fifth, higher than St. Paul, with a glitzy 23-1 record to back up their lofty position. And they'd beaten fifteenth rated Wynford twice.

But Wynford turned the tables on Central in a four game semifinal. St. Paul won a tough four game semifinal over East, and stopped Wynford in the district final 25-17, 23-25, 25-13, 25-14.  

Meanwhile, just getting anywhere was a feat for the Rangers. Nothing against them, but their New Bremen sectional/district is always loaded with Division IV powers from their Midwest Athletic Conference, and the odds are against any one team getting out. But, of course, one team does have to win - that's how these tournament brackets work. And it was New Bremen who successfully ran the gauntlet. 

The Rangers drew a bye to start, and then held off scrappy eleventh ranked Fort Recovery to win the sectional. In the district semifinal, they survived a scare from twelfth rated St. Henry 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12. That avenged one of their two losses, the other coming at the hands of Division III power Versailles. 

As an aside, St. Henry lost more matches than normal this year, but played possibly their strongest schedule ever. They beat one top ranked team along the way, Marion Local in the sectional final, and they shocked future Division I state champ Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame the first weekend of the season.

At any rate, New Knoxville still encountered some bumps on the road to Fairborn after St. Henry, gaining four game decisions over Convoy Crestview in the district final and over eighth ranked defending champ Sidney Lehman Catholic in the regional final. 

Making this championship match especially hard to predict, Marion Local had beaten St. Paul for the championship of the Convoy Crestview Invitational, and then fallen to New Knoxville in the last match of the regular season (which occurred after the final rankings came out).

But St. Paul was a different team by season’s end, according to Coach Nancy Miller, having recently resolved a weak spot in their middle back.  

Miller noted that the Flyers love to play defense. They spend almost ninety percent of their practice time on passing which, with no big hitters, is their attack machine.

In the final they repeatedly dug and passed missives from the 6’0” spiking duet of Nicole Wright and Alycia Niemeyer. St. Paul outside hitter Christine Dow led both squads with 17 digs, and libero teammate Stacia Fritz took second with 15. Notably, the 5’9” Dow also led both teams in kills with 18. 

Afterward Ranger Coach Jenny Fledderjohann commented that her team “hadn’t faced a defensive team like that before…they dug a lot of our big hitters”. That said it all considering the defenses her team had faced. 

St. Paul jumped out to a 5-0 first game lead, and this proved sufficient to stave off a late-game New Knoxville rally. Victoria Spaar started the scoring with a tip, Stacia Fritz served an ace and the Rangers contributed three attack errors. 

Morgan Reineke ended the rally, spiking a Haley Kruse backset down the right side, and the teams exchanged scoring to 9-4. 

At that point Niemeyer set Nikki Kellermeyer for a kill, thereby rotating to front row where she blocked Ryan Centers and smashed a short set to help cut the margin to 9-8. 

However, led by Dow, St. Paul moved back on top by four and eventually went up 19-14. But the Rangers forged a 9-3 run, paced by Niemeyer and Reineke, and when Anna Jaynes saved a dump attempt by setter Andrea Fritz and St. Paul’s next hit struck the pole, New Knoxville had their first lead at 23-22.

This proved short lived thanks to Dow whose three straight kills ended the game. Fritz chipped in by digging New Knoxville 6’0” power hitter Nicole Wright at least three times! 

But New Knoxville stayed hot and took early game two leads of 5-2 and 8-4, as Nikki Kellermeyer provided two blocks and Wright and Niemeyer took turns spiking. 

St. Paul tied it at 13 and 14 on kills by Kate Schafer, and edged ahead 17-16 on Dow’s blast of a great cross court set by Andrea Fritz, followed by a double block of Niemeyer by Fritz and Amber Welfle. 

Reineke retied it, but three errors put the Rangers in a hole from which they could not escape, despite closing to within a point three times. 

And when Schafer blasted a short set from Fritz and Centers hammered a spike down the right line, St. Paul was up 24-21. Following a service error, Welfle pounded the game winner into a double block, with the ball rolling off the defenders to the floor. 

New Knoxville rebounded to take a highly contested game three that saw 12 ties and five lead changes. The Rangers used a 7-1 run, fueled by a booming block from Kellermeyer and kills by Niemeyer and Reineke, to erase an initial 4-2 Flyer lead. 

St. Paul flew back in front 11-10, with Ryan Centers scoring three kills and Dow and Welfle adding one apiece. 

Wright led a Ranger spurt to 16-13, but Victoria Spaar blocked two Ranger spikes, helped by Andrea Fritz and Centers, and a Ranger ball handling error left the score tied at 16. 

Wright scored another kill, and Spaar another block with help from Centers, as the teams traded points to 20. Dow followed her tying kill with a well placed tip to nudge St. Paul ahead. 

However, the Rangers prevailed when Wright, who was now back in front row, terminated a Haley Kruse short set, then blasted two more kills. Dow scored one more, but two St. Paul attacking errors ended the game. 

Game four was similar to the first with St. Paul taking a big lead, after an initial attack error, and staving off a late Ranger charge. Dow got the Flyers aloft with a smash down the left, Schafer pounded two kills, and sophomore Whitney Roth spiked a point following digs on Wright by Roth and Stacia Fritz. 

Spaar and Andrea Fritz teamed for a block, and encored another after a Ranger timeout. Schafer spiked a cross court set into a hole to make it 8-1. 

Fledderjohann blocked Schafer’s next missive, and shortly after New Knoxville scored three straight on kills by Wright and Kellermeyer and a tip by Niemeyer. That cut the lead to 10-6, but the Flyers kept the Rangers at bay as the score advanced to 17-12. 

New Knoxville closed to 17-15, and on the ensuing volley the Rangers dug a smash by Schafer, but Welfle smoked a short set to nip any hopes of a big rally. Centers then crunched a cross court kill and Dow scored on a spike off the net, as Schafer and Stacia Fritz took turns digging Niemeyer missiles. 

With the match slipping away, Niemeyer started another run by spiking a perfect shot over a double block to an empty back court. Reineke followed with a kill, Niemeyer mashed a short set, and after an errant Flyer hit, the Rangers were only down 20-19.

Dreams of a fifth game were rudely interrupted, however, by Centers who found an empty left back court. Welfle and Andrea Fritz followed that by blocking Niemeyer, and the teams then exchanged points to 24-21. 

And, fittingly, it was Dow who placed a perfectly aimed hit into a hole in New Knoxville’s middle that gave her team their second state title.

******************************************************************************** 

Norwalk St. Paul’s reaction to the final point going down was both unique and classy. The players stood quietly in the middle of their court, their faces filled with wonderment, looking across the net. The rest of the team stood at the in-bound line. 

Coach Miller explained afterward it was a matter of “composure”. She added “We needed to acknowledge New Knoxville...we could celebrate later”.