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Big Walnut, Ottawa-Glandorf victories set up rematch November 4, 2005 By Jim Jicha The Sunbury Big Walnut Eagles and Ottawa-Glandorf Titans came home with victories yesterday at the Division II Ontario Regional, and that means tomorrow we’ll have a rematch of last year’s nail biter regional semifinal. Big Walnut won that one 24-26, 25-18, 23-25, 28-28, 15-11, but missed out on the trip to state when St. Francis DeSales nipped them in the final 25-13, 25-22, 20-25, 14-25, 16-14. This time around the match up between the Eagles and Titans will be for the trip to state. Big Walnut had a relatively easy time in their match with Galion, downing the Tigers 25-14, 25-13, 25-16. Galion coach Jennifer Weaver said afterward her team was out of sync, but what was most apparent throughout the match was that Big Walnut was totally in sync. The Eagles “played great defense and had good ball control” according to their coach Charles Workman. Junior Hannah Swysgood scored ten kills to lead a balanced attack, with sophomore Corinne Windle adding seven, senior Jodi Davis six and junior Erika Bills five. That was testimony to junior setter Summer Hale who put up great sets even when the passes were off, which wasn’t very often. (The Eagles’ four top hitters each have over 100 kills this year, preventing opponents from keying on anyone.) Big Walnut seemed very confident throughout the match, a result according to Workman of having been to regionals three years running. “Our first pass went into Row 10” said Workman, “but after that we settled down and followed our game plan perfectly. Everyone played great”. Big Walnut scored first on some type of lineup infraction, after which Galion took a 2-1 lead on a cross court kill (the one that was dug into Row 10!) by Natalie Stough and an ace by middle hitter Brittany Gadd. After a kill by Davis, Galion went back up as Swysgood was called for reaching over while trying to hammer an overpass. Windle retied it with a kill, sending Swysgood to the line where she quickly atoned for her infraction by jump serving the Eagles to a 9-3 margin. The 6’1” middle hitter had two aces, and a couple other points were due to receive difficulties. Junior middle Leah Zeisler spiked a kill as Galion closed to 10-7, but Bills came up with two blocks and a kill, and Big Walnut maintained their lead to a 19-13 tally. At that point, Katie Holt demolished a cross court spike for Galion. Hopes for a rally were quashed when the next Tigers’ hit sailed out, and Windle then served out. The final two points came on an ace and a booming block in the middle by Bills. Game two was tied once, at 1-1 on errors by both teams, and Big Walnut led from there. Swysgood terminated a set from Hale for the Eagles’ go ahead point, and then faked an approach as Sarah DeLong popped the ball hit into a hole. The Eagles outscored Galion 2-1 on five straight sideout exchanges to go up 15-9. Then Swysgood scored on a well placed hit, and Davis served an ace and five more points to put the game out of reach. Game three saw Galion bolt to a 5-0 lead, as Big Walnut hit two out and two more into the net. Zeisler scored a kill for the Tigers. Workman called a timeout, and with everyone settled down, the Eagles took advantage of a net call on Galion with DeLong serving up nine points including two aces. Swysgood chipped in with a booming block and a termination kill, and Davis spiked a too-hot-to-handle blast that was dug three times and out of bounds. Galion stayed close until a smaller rally fueled by Bills put the Eagles up 16-9, and Big Walnut coasted home from there. Eagle libero Justine Bauder paced the defense with 15 digs and Davis chipped in with 12. Swysgood served three aces and DeLong two. The assists stat was not available, but suffice to say Hale had a bunch. Ottawa-Glandorf also won in three, over Bishop Hartley 25-14, 25-21, 25-14. But the Titans had a tougher time, especially in game two when Hartley threatened to tie the match up. Having been to the regional before probably gave the Titans an edge, as Hartley made some errors that seemed due to jitters. Most of the last year’s Titan starters graduated but one returnee, 6’2” sophomore setter/hitter sensation Madalyn Shalter, felt the past tournament experience helped. Shalter said this year’s team also had more chemistry, and that got them through some opening nerves of the own. “We knew we had to do it (get through the nerves) because we just hate to lose” was how she put it. Providing another edge was Shalter herself, who contributed 13 kills, three aces, six assists, a solo block, and several hard spikes that set up free ball situations. Titan coach Ann Ellerbrock later stated the obvious when she said Shalter “can do it all”, adding “when we need a sideout we go to Maddy”. And when Ellerbrock says “all” she’s talking about more than just the physical aspects of the sport. Earlier in the season Shalter hurt her thumb, and Ellerbrock decided it would be better if she just hit and left the setting to their other junior setter Britany Selhorst until the thumb healed. So she asked Maddy how she felt about that, since colleges are interested in her as a setter. Maddy’s response was “I’ll do whatever the team needs”. As for the Titans victory, it was accomplished in spite of some adversity. Earlier in the week, starting outside hitter Lindsay Karhoff went down with a sprained ankle. Freshman Kori Burns started in her stead, but on the first play of game two, she too suffered a sprained ankle. Getting into the match itself, the Titans led game one all the way except for a brief 1-1 tie that came on a kill by Hawks’ middle hitter Sarah Harmon. Mandy White served an ace in a brief rally that put Ottawa up 4-1, and a kill and ace by Shalter made it 7-2. Blair Arms spiked a point for Hartley and Harmon added an ace, but an error and a block by Burns kept O-G’s margin at five. The teams traded points, with Hartley junior Michelle Mangia scoring a block, Shalter two-handing a great lob into an empty Hartley corner, and sophomore Teresa Trucco popping a hit over the Titan block into a hole. Then White spiked a kill and that started a rally, as Selhorst served up five points, including an ace. Shalter scored two spectacular kills, one coming after teammate Lynn Recker dug three Hartley spikes. That made it 16-6, after which scoring went back and forth. A well placed hit by Croy put the Titans up 24-14, and libero Emily Langhals scored the game winner when her dig of a Hartley spike went over the net and into a hole. Game two started like the first, with Ottawa-Glandorf scoring on an error and Hartley tying, this time on a kill by 5’11” junior Megan Krebs. After a kill by Shalter, Hartley took their first lead of the match on two Titan errors but alas, the Hawks made four mistakes of their own. Trucco stopped that with a kill, and Hartley tied it at 7 with Krebs scoring on a tip. O-G went up 10-8 and 11-9, but Krebs scored two more kills, the second tying it at 11, and Hartley edged in front on an error, and a kill by Harmon. O-G tied it, but Harmon scored another go-ahead kill. Alas, three more Hawk miscues and a block by O-G outside Tara Moening put the Titans on top 17-14. The Titans obliged with two errors, and after a kill by White, Hartley tied at 18 on kills from Mangia and Trucco. That’s when Shalter took over, first with a well placed tip, then an ace. Hartley called time out, but Croy kept the Titans going with an off balance hit from the middle that landed on the left line. Shalter served another ace, and Emily Heitmeyer scored a kill off the block. Now trailing 18-23, Hartley rallied on a hot smash by Trucco that was lifted, an ace by Arms and a block by Krebs. O-G called time out and on the next volley a Hartley player was caught in the net. Recker followed with an ace serve for the game winner. Hartley came out firing in game three. Mangia scored on a rightside spike. After the Hawks rejected two blasts from Shalter, partially blocking one and digging the second, Krebs followed with a kill. The Titans tied on a kill by White and a cross court smash by Shalter, but Mangia responded with a nicely placed tip. Unfortunately for Hartley, a comeback was not to be. Shalter saw to that. First she scored on a tip, then a spike that was blocked back over but out, and then a cross court smash from the left that landed on the right line. O-G came up with some sparkling defense on the next volley, as Selhorst made a diving dig of a spike, and White one-handed a save, following which Croy found a hole on Hartley’s side. That put O-G up 6-3 and after some point trading the Titans pulled out to 14-7 on a kill and block by Shalter. Hartley narrowed the gap to 15-12, but White served two aces to spark a four point O-G run. A kill down the right by Recker made it 21-13. After the teams exchanged errors, Recker encored with another blast from the right, and then served up the final points. She ended the match with an ace. The Titans played solid defense led by Langhals and Recker with 15 digs apiece. With their passing game, O-G was able to keep the offense rolling no matter whether Shalter was hitting or setting. Also for the Titans, White had four aces and four kills. |
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