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Sidney Lehman, St. Henry prevail in loaded regional November 6, 2004 By Jim Jicha Fans in southwestern Ohio are getting their moneys worth with the state tournament match ups this fall. The always strong Division I district got even better this year with the rise of Walnut Hills and Lakota West. That resulted in six of the state’s top fourteen teams making district finals. (Seventh ranked Mount Notre Dame lost to third rated Seton in sectionals). Division II has seen two great five game matches involving Ben Logan, who nipped seventh ranked Archbishop Alter in the district final, and number four Cincinnati McNicholas in the regional semifinal. The second ranked Raiders face top ranked Roger Bacon in today’s final. But in Division IV they really packed the field when four of Ohio’s top five teams converged at Vandalia-Butler for Wednesday night’s semifinals. Only third ranked Marion Local was missing, and that’s because the Flyers lost to St. Henry in sectionals. In the first match, number five Lehman Catholic topped second ranked Sidney Fairlawn in a close hard fought three game match 25-20, 25-21, 25-20. Although Lehman and Fairlawn are both from Sidney, this was their first meeting. Top ranked St. Henry took number four Jackson Center in the finale 25-21, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15. The match between Lehman and Fairlawn was intense with long volleys kept alive by great digs and heads up plays. And although the Cavaliers won in three, the match was always in doubt, as Lehman used rallies in each game to pull away. Fairlawn led early in game one. Lehman evened the score and the teams then battled it out with Jet freshman Amanda Francis and Cavalier sophomore Roshelle Watercutter trading spikes from the outside. A block by Francis gave the Jets a 20-18 lead, but that’s when Lehman made one of their runs, getting a kill and ace from Watercutter, three kills from sophomore Jessica Butt, and blocks from Brittany Brandewie and Butt. Game one Lehman. The Cavaliers led most of the next game, but could never break away. They took four point leads of 4-0 and 11-7, and 15-11 after a brief tie at 11. The Jets stayed with striking distance and closed to with two twice, the second time at 23-21 on a kill by Hillary Trapp and a block by Jessica Girod. However, Lehman got a kill by Lauren Gleason and won on an errant Fairlawn hit which came after a blast by Girod was dug by Watercutter. The third game saw the Jets fly to a 10-3 lead, as Girod blocked Watercutter and then served six points, including an ace. But Lehman rallied big time, getting five straight and, after a termination spike from Natalie Davidson, scored ten more on a rampage by Watercutter who spiked a nice backset by sophomore Emilee Seger, and then served up four aces. The Jets responded with a rally of their own to creep within two, getting three kills from Girod and Trapp. The run was helped by some snazzy defense by Francis. On one volley she dug a bomb from Butt over the net, and over the Lehman team into their backcourt. And before Trapp hit her kill, Francis saved another spike from Butt. Lehman was smelling the roses, however, and with their lead down to 21-20, they came up with the final rally, scoring on kills from Butt, Seger and Watercutter. The winning point came when a Fairlawn attempt to hit the corner went a bit too far. St. Henry had considerable trouble with Jackson Center. When at times it seemed as if the Redskins were going to win handily, Jackson Center would roar back. In game one St. Henry raced to a 23-12 lead using a balanced attack with kills from Cami Lefeld, Lindsay Puthoff, Kayla Lefeld, Lanee Mikesell, and Lindsay Thobe. To have that kind of hitting you need great setting and that was provided courtesy of Mikesell and Christa Schwartz. But quicker than you can say “momentum shift” Jackson Center was back in the game, as setter Cara Metz served up an eight point rally, led by three powerful kills from Catie Halberstadt. Renee Platfoot provided a block, Metz an ace and St. Henry helped with some miscues. Sophomore Betsy Hoying ended the rally with a kill and, after another blast from Halberstadt, St. Henry won on a net violation. The Redskins were off and running gain in game two, taking a 6-1 edge led by Puthoff’s blocking. But Halberstadt and Kristi Platfoot got the Tigers untracked. While the Tigers never led in the game, they got to within a point four times. St. Henry gradually pulled away from a 16-15 lead for the win. Game three was close with St. Henry in front most of the time, once by four. With St. Henry up 18-16, the play on both sides became very intense with long volleys, diving digs and some termination hits. Jackson Center moved ahead on kills by Abby Lotz and Kristi Platfoot, and a spectacular dig by Halberstadt saved a volley. The teams traded points on spikes and tips as the score increased to 23-22 in favor of the Tigers. At that juncture, Jackson Center ended the trading, when Metz served an ace, and Halberstadt finished it off with a smash that was dug out of bounds. Both teams came out fired up in game four and they battled back and forth to an 11-10 Tiger lead. Mikesell tied it with a kill, and this started a 15-4 run that carried St. Henry to victory. Puthoff led the rally with four points, and Hoying score the winner on a cross court spike. The win puts the Redskins in the title match against Lehman, who already beat St. Henry earlier this year. Of course, St. Henry beat Marion Local twice and Lehman lost to them. But all of that is of interest only to those of us who love delving into trivia. What happens today will be decided on the floor, and we can look forward to seeing one of these teams at the Nutter Center next week.
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