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Regional and State Highlights - 2004 State Final Highlights Toledo St. Ursula won their first state championship in five tries Saturday afternoon with a 25-17, 25-20, 26-24 victory over Girls Greater Cincinnati League champion Mother of Mercy. St. Ursula rolled to an 18-6 lead in game one, led by Bowling Green softball recruit Hayley Wiemer, along with Brittany Fox. Mercy rallied behind the hitting of Tricia Meyers but it was too late. The Arrows never broke away in game two, but Wiemer scored on five occasions when the Bobcats got close, and Mercy could not sustain a rally to move ahead. In game three Mercy led early and there were 12 ties, six beginning at 18-18. Mercy tied at 24-24 on a kill by outside hitter Maria Schmitt, but Allison Florian scored on a tip and then served an ace to put the match on ice. Mercy coach Denise Harvey thought a major difference was that the Arrows played flawlessly in some stretches which didn't give her team much to work with. St. Ursula had an edge in stats, the biggest a .270 to .148 attack percent. The Arrows led five to three in blocks and while that total seems low, there were many deflections and blocks on both sides that were kept in play during some intense volleys. Hayley Wiemer said the Arrows' performance against Mercy was in contrast to Friday when "we got a little scared". Referring to the Seton match she said "we didn't want to work this hard and have it end in what wasn't our game. So today we started strong and stayed tough". Former St. Ursula middle hitter Sarah Florian, now a starter for Southern Cal, attended the match. In winning their title the Arrows knocked off #2 Findlay, #3 Seton, #4 Mercy, #5 Toledo Central Catholic and #9 Elyria. During the regular season the also beat #1 Division IV state champ St. Henry, #6 Ursuline and #11 Cincinnati St. Ursula, Toledo Central twice, and #8 Division III Huron twice. And they defeated the top four teams in the GGCL. Roger Bacon won their second Division II title by downing West Holmes 25-9, 25-15, 26-24. Bacon outside hitter Jessy Hoeh and West Holmes coach Jim Park agreed that the Spartans' defense was the big difference. Hoeh talked about "those blocks and digs". Park noted that Jaime Frey hurt his team with lots of digs and Roger Bacon had a 9-1 edge in blocks. Midway through game one Heather Hausfeld stuffed consecutive spikes by West Holmes middle hitter Mandy Humphrey. That was shortly after she and setter Katie Veatch teamed up on two blocks against outside Tricia Uhl. As a result West Holmes began hitting higher or trying to go around, resulting in more free balls and hitting errors. West Holmes hung tough in game two but got fried by some of that Bacon defense after a spike by Humphrey had cut Roger Bacon's lead to 19-15. On the ensuing volley the Knights blocked a spike but Frey had perfect position on the floor at the net for a dig, and when West Holmes followed with a spike Hoeh dove to her right and kept the ball in play with a one-handed dig. Spartan outside Alyssa Carlotta then drilled a spike that was blocked to the media table. Hoeh served out, providing an ace while Frey added three kills. West Holmes led much of game three but never by more than two points and there were something like sixteen ties. Brittany Mathie put West Holmes up 21-20 with two kills, but Hoeh came back with two to make it 22-21. The teams traded kills until Carlotta spiked one that was blocked way out to make it 25-24. Uhl, who had spiked to tie it at 24, tried to put the ball in the right corner but barely missed, ending the match. The Knights, who had 14 kills combined in the first two games, actually led Roger Bacon in kills 21-16 in game three. But they committed 7 hitting errors in the final game to just one for the winners. Newark Catholic renewed a tradition in taking the Division III crown with a 21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 over the previously unbeaten Lutheran West Longhorns. The Green Wave was making their fourteenth final four appearance, and they gained their eighth title tying them with Cincinnati St. Ursula for the most by a school. Ironically, Newark Catholic won their seventh crown in 1989, four years before St. Ursula won their first. Lutheran West led much of the first game getting three kills each from Bethany Kastner, Jessica Moses and Nicole Feher. Their biggest margin was five. Newark Catholic evened it up at 15-15 and momentum seemed to be going their way as they grabbed a 21-17 lead with Searra Schell leading their attack. Lutheran West blocked and hit well but Newark Catholic was a digging machine and kept a lot of balls in play. Disaster struck the Green Wave when Feher spiked a kill for sideout and Helen Stewart served out to put Lutheran up 1-0. Setter Karla Everhart made critical plays for points 22 and 23 scoring on a dump and winning a play at the net. Green Wave middle hitter Sarah Clapper took charge of game two as the Green Wave took a 9-6 lead. The Longhorns rallied for five points helped by two aces from Everhart. The Green Wave went back on top 12-11 as Clapper spiked a point and blocked Moses, and Schell killed an overpass. It stayed close but with a 22-21 lead Newark got three points to win. Clapper had 9 kills in the game. Game three started like before with Newark taking a 9-6 lead and the Longhorns tying it. But then Green Wave setter Sadie Warthen served a five point rally and her team stayed in charge the rest of the way. It also seemed that Lutheran West was becoming frustrated. This became obvious in game four as the Green Wave jumped to a 6-3 lead on a five point rally. The frustration was written in the Longhorns' faces as Newark Catholic went on two more runs to go up 15-7 and 20-9. Outside hitter Shannon Wilson had 12 kills overall but the one she'll remember the rest of her life was the one that put the match away and sent her teammates into a frenzied pile of excitement in the middle of the floor. Clapper, who led both teams with 25 kills said the difference was "in the first game we made mistakes. After that we made them make mistakes". Clapper came close to missing the tournament. She suffered a separated shoulder late in the regular season and got back in the lineup just in time for sectionals. St. Henry also continued tradition by beating Norwalk St. Paul 25-15, 25-21, 25-17 to win their sixth overall title and take Division IV. Game one went back and forth until a sideout gave St. Henry a 15-14 lead and brought Kayla Lefeld to the serving line. She finally served long, her first error of the finals, but that was after three aces and by then the Redskins led 23-14. St. Paul was in front much of game two, led by the hitting of middle hitter Megan Centers and digging of Leah Schaffer. But St. Henry stayed close and moved on top 21-19 when Lindsay Puthoff spiked a kill and scored twice on blocks. With the Redskins up 22-21 Lefeld did an encore for Puthoff, spiking a kill, blocking Centers and blocking for game point. Game three was all St. Henry. Maria Wuebker served three aces to put them up 4-2. Sophomore Betsy Hoying sparked another rally that increased the lead to 10-4. And setter Lanee Mikesell got two kills, one on a tip of a bad pass that she couldn't possibly set. Hoying, who committed no errors in the match, scored the winning point on a spike that was blocked out. Kylie Elking led the Redskins defense with 13 digs. So what was the difference in the match? It might have been sleep. St. Henry Coach Lori Schieterman said on Friday she was taking her team home so "they can sleep in their own beds and get up and relax in their own homes". Puthoff said afterward she got a lot more rest than last year in the hotel. At any rate the Redskins seemed relaxed before and during the match. Newspaper Articles on State Finals Title caps stellar run for Spartans (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer) Toledo St. Ursula gets best of GGCL (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer) Newark Catholic wins title (Cincinnati Enquirer) Lutheran West done in at finals (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Champs at last: St. Ursula completes mission in state volleyball (Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga) State Semifinal Highlights 11/13/04 - It used to be that spending a Friday at the state semifinals meant a lot of idle time. With matches getting more competitive that became less of a factor. And with the new rally scoring, best-of-five venue this year, it is not a consideration at all. Yesterday's matches started at 11 AM and ended after 10:30 PM, and the only time a match was not in progress was during warm ups for the next match. Here are some highlights. Division I - The first match of the day between Toledo St. Ursula and Cincinnati Seton was one to remember, causing Seton coach Kerry Butkovich to say afterward " I've never experienced a volleyball match like that". St. Ursula won 16-25, 16-25, 39-37, 26-24, 15-7, rallying twice from near oblivion, first from 19-23 in game three and then 20-24 in game four. Emily Florian served both rallies, taking the Arrows to a 24-23 lead in the third game and serving out the fourth. St. Ursula had 12 chances to win game three and Seton two to win the match before Alison Mugler spiked the final point. Allison Florian and Ashley Heyman teamed up for a double block to win the fourth game. Seton was out of their game in the tiebreaker. Allison Florian scored four points on spikes and tips down the stretch. The Arrows had 79 kills in the match, but were hurt by 48 errors. Mugler led with 24 kills and Hayley Wiemer and Brittany Fox added 19 and 17, respectively. Caitlin Carey had 18 kills for Seton, Megan Griffin added 17, and Kelly Hofmeyer was busy with 38 digs. The match lasted two hours and three minutes. Cincinnati Mother of Mercy took Wooster 25-10, 25-17, 25-14. Both coaches agreed Mercy's blocking was the major difference. They led in blocks 14-0 and kills 37-16. Mercy's hitting was led by Tricia Meyers (9), Lauren Harpenau (8) and Erica Janszen (7). This was, of course, thanks to superb setting by sophomore Samantha Viox. Becca Norman had 8 kills for Wooster. Division IV - Norwalk St. Paul speeded up their offense in the second game and the result was a 15-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 win over Frankfort Adena. Megan Centers led with 18 kills, Katie Playko had 40 assists and Leah Schaffer 29 digs. Adena was led by Amanda Atchison with 17 kills Haley Halcomb 35 assists and Katie Roush 23 digs. St. Paul trailed 16-20 in game three and 18-21 in game four. St. Henry upended previously undefeated Kalida 25-17, 25-21, 25-5, thanks in part to 18 service aces. Jump server Kayla Lefeld was on fire with 10 aces and 11 kills. With the score tied 5-5 in game two she served seven aces, six in a row to put her team up 14-5. Angela Unverferth served two aces in a Kalida rally helped by the hitting of Allison Siefker and Michele Remlinger. But Redskin Lindsay Puthoff scored three kills to put the game on ice. Kylie Elking had 13 digs for St. Henry and sophomore Betsy Hoying came up with some big plays. Incredibly the Redskins committed no service errors. This is especially noteworthy because, as St. Henry coach Lori Schwieterman described Lefeld's missives, "they (Kalida) didn't know where it was going but we didn't either". Plus she was moving the serves from 14 to 28 feet, and at least two appeared headed out but dropped just inside the line. Lefeld thought she might have a good day, saying "I could definitely tell during warmups that my serve was panning out". Division III - Newark Catholic ousted Westfall in a 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 17-15 cliffhanger. Sarah Clapper led everyone with 30 kills, but she was most effective in the first two games and the tiebreaker. In games three and four the Green Wave's passing went south and Clapper was frustrated by not getting much good to hit. Westfall was led by Jess Rodgers' 13 kills. Chelsea Popowski and freshman Cassie Sowers had 11 apiece. Newark Catholic coach Jeri Helfer credited Westfall for creating some of her team's problems noting that "their defense is incredible". The Mustangs had 80 digs, led by Maleah Thornton with 18. But the Green Wave had 91 of their own, and Searra Schell led both teams with 22. Lutheran West dethroned Orrville in an exciting conclusion to Friday's matches. The score was 19-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-21. Orrville's Erica Short was unstoppable early on but Helen Stewart "finally got to my line" as she put it, and began digging some of the 6'2" hitters' spikes. The Longhorns had five hitters with 9 or more kills, led by Jessica Moses' 16. Longhorn coach Stephanie Flaherty cited several players for outstanding play. Outside hitters Bethany Kastner and Nicole Feher combined for 25 kills and Stewart scored at crucial junctures. But the one that really stood out was setter Karla Everhart who did a fantastic job of distributing the ball. "Whoever their block was following, I went the other way" was how she described it. Lutheran West had some nervous moments in game four when blood was found on Everhart's jersey. The team did not have a spare one, and it looked like their quarterback would be benched, but fortunately someone at the Nutter Center had something to remove the blood. Everhart said she hurt herself in practice. Everhart also had some great dumps. She scored the final point by digging an errant pass into a hole on Orrville's side. Orrville setter Kara Guster led both teams in assists with 51 and Ashley Hershberger contributed 13 kills. As for preparing for today's final, Everhart said her team needs to "get to bed early, eat some food and relax". She laughed upon realizing the first thing wasn't going to happen. It was 11:00 PM! Division II - Roger Bacon breezed past Copley in Thursday's first match 25-10, 25-10, 25-17. Jaime Frey and Jessica Hoeh spiked 11 and 10 kills respectively for the victors. Lauren Sheppard had 12 digs and setter Katie Veatch contributed 35 assists. She and Hoeh each had 3 aces. Emily Jones led Copley with 9 kills, and she led both teams in heart. After the second game she told the team they should play for each other, and not worry if they get blown out because that had already happened twice. In game three the Indians were overpowered by Roger Bacon, but they did bend the Spartans, forcing them to make second and third efforts. West Holmes is getting to be a regular at the Nutter Center. Making their fourth appearance, and fifth in six years, the Knights qualified for their third straight final with a hard fought 25-18, 25-12, 20-25, 25-23 win over Columbus St. Francis DeSales. West Holmes led most of game one and used an 8 point run to blow out to a 23-10 lead in game two. Tricia Uhl served the rally and Mandy Humphrey spiked a kill and blocked two DeSales hits. The Knights jumped out in game three, but Georgia Tech bound Stallion hitter Talisa Kellogg sparked a rally with a kill and two aces. DeSales pulled away late on scoring by Kellogg and Michelle Wintering. Game four started even, but DeSales raced to a 13-7 lead on two kills by Shannon Kelly and some errors by West Holmes. The Knights rallied late in the game. Kellogg tied it at 23 with a knock down kill, but Mandy Humphrey hit two bombs to win it for West Holmes. On the final volley Brittany Mathie and Humphrey both made great digs on Kellogg. Uhl led West Holmes with 21 kills and Mathie added 12. Humphrey had 14 but was partly stymied by Kellogg. Uhl said afterward she and Mathie knew as outside hitters that they would have to step up their game. Newspaper Articles Lutheran West stuns Orrville (Akron Beacon Journal, by Debbie Juniewicz) Mercy shows none to Wooster (Akron Beacon Journal, by Debbie Juniewicz) Glory days back at Mercy (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer) Lutheran West senior comes up big in semifinals (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Sweeping rule changes please state coaches (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) St. Henry makes quick work of its semifinal foe (Dayton Daily News, by Debbie Juniewicz) Quite a comeback: St. Ursula rallies from huge deficit in state semis (Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga) St. Ursula advances to championship (Toledo Blade) Top-ranked St. Ursula still seeking elusive state crown (Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga) 11/12/04 - Copley bounced in state finals (Akron Beacon Journal, by Debbie Juniewicz) Bacon nearing state crown (Cincinnati Enquirer) Roger Bacon rolls into D-II final (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Alex Blumer) Bacon taking nothing for granted (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Alex Blumer) Determined Copley's title dreams spiked (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Fiery Jones keeps Copley in the game (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Fortuna) Young Roger Bacon team rolls into D-II final (Dayton Daily News, by Debbie Juniewicz) Friends a quick hit (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Fortuna) Scouting state volleyball (Cleveland Plain Dealer) State tourney at a glance (Dayton Daily News) 11/09/04 - West Holmes hands Olmsted Falls first loss, earns fifth trip to state 11/07/04 - Elyria can't solve undefeated St. Ursula (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Indians topple Kenston (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Longhorns win, exit state of frustration (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Fortuna) Mercy, Seton in Final 4; Bacon advances in Division II (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer) Arrows capture title (Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga) Copley battles to state (Akron Beacon Journal, by Tom Gaffney) Wooster's long wait over (Akron Beacon Journal, by Gary Estwick) 'X' marks the win for Orrville (Akron Beacon Journal, by Bill Lilley) 11/05/04 - Sidney Lehman, St. Henry prevail in loaded regional Wooster advances by Mentor (Akron Beacon Journal, by Casey Moore) Orrville orchestrates a win (Akron Beacon Journal, by Wayne von Breitenstein) Elyria climbs mental hurdle to reach finals (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Migra) Kenston's Hanks picks RedHawks (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Solon, Wooster start off slow, rally for victories in regional (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) Top ranked Orrville ousts Vikings again (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Fortuna) Versailles fights its way to regional title match (Dayton Daily News, by Debbie Juniewicz) St. Ursula wins showdown (Toledo Blade, by Steve Junga) Mercy advances to 1st regional championship game since 2000 (Cincinnati Enquirer) Lions take out SUA (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Mark Schmetzer) 11/04/04 - Transfer carries Lehman Catholic (Dayton Daily News, by Debbie Juniewicz) Copley rolls past Crestwood (Akron Beacon Journal, by Casey Moore) 11/04/04 - Scouting girls regional volleyball (Cleveland Plain Dealer) McNick ousted, but Bacon wins (Cincinnati Enquirer, by Colleen Kane) Redskins bump out No. 10 Bombers (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Bob Fortuna) Bombers handle Lions in regional tourney (Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Tim Warsinskey) 11/03/04 - Cincinnati St. Ursula and Ursuline survive scares, Butler downs C-J
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