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St. Edward, Archbishop Hoban, Massillon Jackson and North Olmsted advance in North

May 19, 2007

by Jim Jicha

Lakewood St. Edward downed Uniontown Lake in a North regional semifinal Thursday evening 25-13, 25-13, 25-10. The Eagles took control early in each game. Outside hitter Dave Malloy scored winning kills in the first two games. Middle blocker Adrian Rutt pounded a Joe Tima short set to set up match point in the third. Middle blocker Aaron Flick helped pace St. Edward at the net, and sophomore outside Will Troxil contributed both at the net, and on the line with at least three aces. 

Archbishop Hoban had more difficulty with St. Ignatius, winning a match between young teams 25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15. A tip by junior outside Jojo Sokol started a six point run that gave the Knights a 21-14 game one lead. Setter Scott Weaver blocked for a point, and Sokol added a kill after sophomore Mike Horth saved a St. Ignatius overpass tip with a diving dig. 

St. Ignatius kept the game close, trailing 19-17 after kills by sophomore Patrick Adler. But Hoban won on a 6-2 run fueled by three spikes from junior Nick Creme. 

The Wildcats turned the tables in game three, pulling away after point trading left the teams deadlocked at 16. Following a Hoban net serve, St. Ignatius libero Matthew Skrajner served an ace. Hoban’s 6’5” middle Curtis May blasted a short set, but St. Ignatius freshman Michael Messina  retorted with a heads up hit from back court that commenced a four point run. 

Setter Matthew Roth served an ace and then scored on a well placed hit after Alex Robertson and Gregory Herceg rejected some Hoban spikes. A Knights’ rally to 22-23 was stopped by a hitting error. Roth scored the game point on a back handed dump, after Robertson saved a dump attempt by Weaver. 

It appeared St. Ignatius would keep things hot when Herceg started game four off with a booming block. Wildcat hopes cooled quickly, however, when Paul Blischak spiked a cross court kill and Sokol and Creme blocked for two points to fuel a seven point run by Hoban. May eventually blasted a short set for the match winner. 

Massillon Jackson avenged two five game losses to Stow as they upended the Bulldogs 30-28, 25-18, 27-29, 25-13. Game one went back and forth early, with Stow’s Troy Aleman and Shane Susanek blocking for points and Jackson middle Mike Krieg spiking. Stow maintained an edge much of the way, but there were 16 ties. Jackson surged ahead 22-20 on a kill by Alex White, only to have the Bulldogs tie again with kills by outside Brian Piper and Susanek.

Then things really got wild with many points coming on errors after intense volleys kept alive by nifty defensive plays, as Aleman, Susanek and Sykora blocked for Stow and Geoff Groenke and libero Devon Bolon dug for the Polar Bears. Jackson went up 24-22, and 25-24, and Stow had three game point tries, the last at 28-27 following a short set blast by setter/outside R J Sykora. 

After the Polar Bears got back on top Zach Pugh tipped the game winner into a hole to his right. 

Leading 21-17 in game two, Jackson surged to the win behind kills from Pugh and Krieg. 

And when the Polar Bears roared ahead 22-13 in game three, it appeared a sweep was in order. Unfortunately, a couple of Jackson miscues, followed by kills from Susanek, Alex Blohm and Piper, gave new life to Stow. 

White scored for Jackson to make it 23-18. But when Susanek found an empty back court with a heads up defensive hit, things came unglued for the Polar Bears and Stow clawed their way to a 24-23 lead. Jackson retook the lead at 25-24 and again at 26-25. Stow scored twice and Hales retied it with a block. Following a net call on Jackson, Aleman surprised the Bears with a dump for the win. 

Unfortunately, for Stow that is, another five game match was not in the offing. Groenke saw to that as he blasted three kills to lead Jackson to a 12-6 lead. And with the score 24-13, following a big block by Sykora, Groenke put it away. 

In the closest match of the evening, North Olmsted squeaked past Brecksville 25-17, 24-26, 25-17, 17-25, 15-12. North Olmsted had won their three previous meetings, but Brecksville played this one with a lot of heart. This was best exemplified by junior setter Brian Schlabig who avoided walls and benches trying to retrieve errant digs, and who perfectly timed one errant dig that seemed lost in the net into a great save over the net. 

Brecksville middle hitter Eric Niederhelman scored several kills in game two to keep the Bees even in the game, and after North Olmsted went up 23-19, he added three more to spark a tying rally. North Olmsted middle John Bixler scored the go ahead on a kill, but the Eagles hit their next one out, and Niederhelman teamed up with Chris Radey on a go ahead block as the Bees tied the match at one all. 

North Olmsted jumped out to leads of 10-6 and 17-9 in game three led by kills from Brett Belda and Matt Cooper. And Kenny Rix saved two errant digs by teammates, which led to another point when Brecksville finally hit long. But the Bees rallied for five with Schlabig serving as Niederhelman and Paul Haught scored on blocks. 

Eagle setter Derek Howell ended the run with a nicely faked dump and North Olmsted gradually pulled away.  

But the Bees were not done and they swarmed to out 19-9 in game four a 19-9 game four with outside Eric Potapenko and Niederhelman leading the attack and libero Tom Dlugopolsky controlling the back court. The Eagles narrowed the margin to 20-16 on kills by Troy Howell and Belda, a dig off the raised basketball backboard by Cooper that landed in a hole on Brecksville’s court and another dump by Howell. 

Bees hitter Taylor Resparc scored two kills to end the threat, Haught made it 24-17 with a kill, and a Niederhelman terminated the game with a booming block. 

The tiebreaker went back and forth up to a tie at 8. Then Brecksville obliged with a net serve and the Eagles raced in front 13-8 on kills from Cooper and a block by Belda. The Bees closed to 14-12 after an ace by Brian Ibold, but Bixler won out on a play at the net when his hit was dug out of play, sending North Olmsted to the regional final. 

North Olmsted advances to play Hoban today and Jackson will face St. Edward.