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St. Charles Classic final might have been a match up of state champions April 17, 2009 by Jim Jicha At the conclusion of a sport season someone will on occasion remark they’d like to see the state champions play each other. Folks who saw St. Xavier pull away from 16-all in game three to defeat St. Charles 25-15, 23-25, 25-17 in the final of the St. Charles Classic on opening day might be able to say they did that. That's, of course, if those two go all the way which only time will tell. Since the tournament, St. X has defeated defending state champ Elder, Moeller and LaSalle. They play Centerville tonight. The Division II Cardinals have taken down Bishop Watterson and Division I power Worthington Kilbourne, but were nipped in five by defending D-II state champion Archbishop Hoban last night. Both squads made lots of mistakes in their match for the first place trophy, and Bombers' Coach Bill Ferris said he was “still trying to figure out" his team's difficulties in putting away not only St. Charles, but Cleveland St. Ignatius in the first round. Ferris said “we tried to clean up” problems with service errors and bad service receives, but added “St. Charles is an interesting team. They do a great job keeping the ball alive to score points". That they do with aplomb. The Bombers took off quickly against St. Ignatius, streaking to a 7-1 lead. But they had trouble containing Greg Herceg and 6’5” middle Pat Adler at the net, and had even more difficulty receiving Herceg’s service bombs, and they were lucky to escape with a 26-24, 25-23 win. St. Charles likewise had difficulty with Pickerington North and 6’6” middle Spencer Teeters, as they eked to 25-22, 25-23 win. Both teams had easier times in round two. St. Xavier dispatched defending Division II state champion Archbishop Hoban, while the Cardinals took care of Cincinnati LaSalle. Then came the final, and after getting in the net on the initial volley, the Bombers raced ahead 5-1 on a cremation by outside Chaz Jennings, kills by setter Derek Kues and Jennings, and two aces from lefty right side Ken Doud. The Cardinals closed to 6-4, on a kill and ace from sophomore middle Andy Sellan. They again closed to 10-7 on a cross court smash by senior outside Ned Gruber, but sophomore Bomber leftside Ben Lottman demolished a cross court shot of his own, and sophomore Matt Kues served an ace, and after another net serve, Jennings and Doud teamed on a block. This sparked a five point run as Doud contributed an ace and some diving digs. The Bombers glided in from there with outside Michael Cunningham spiking a cross court shot that was blocked over but out for the win. Game two repeated the same scoring scenario with St. Charles scoring first, Jennings tying with a kill and Matt Kues serving four points including an ace. But this time St. Charles came back to win despite five service errors. Trailing 7-3, the Cardinals rallied for three behind defense of opposite/setter Damon DiSabato and libero Zach Hartmann. St. Xavier appeared to have things under control when they again pulled away to 14-8, as middle hitter Matt Devine contributed a kill and block. With the Bombers still up 16-10, Cardinals' outside Ned Gruber spiked a kill that started a four point run which was aided by Bomber misfires. And after an intervening straight down kill by Jennings, who really does go airborne at times, Cardinal setter James Yurkovich perfectly placed a dump, and outside Matt Van Volker spiked a cross court kill and teamed on a block with Nick Summers to push the Cardinals atop 18-17. St. Charles obliged with two miscues, but Summers retied with a block, and Van Volker hammered another kill as the Cardinals moved out 22-20. After Cunningham and Gruber traded kills, Divine scored on a cross court shot and Jennings tied it again with a big block in the middle. But after a net serve, DiSabato ended the game with an ace. St. Charles kept the pressure on, scoring the first two points in game three on a quick hit by Sellan and an overpass tip from Yurkovich. But Jennings tied it with two sky spikes that negated spiffy defensive from Gruber and Hartmann, and Kues dumped for the lead. Gruber retied it, but Jennings scored a kill and ace, and a block from Doud put St. X up 9-6. St. Charles retied at nine, as Sellan rejected a Bomber spike and crushed a Yurkovich quick set. The Cardinals then capitalized on errors and were up 12-11 when Sellan holed a well placed tip. But Lottman knotted it back up with a cross court shot, and after an intense volley with saves on both sides by DiSabato, Doud and Matthew Kues, Cunningham put the Bombers back in the lead. Jennings went to his right for another blast and after a net serve, demolished a Derek Kues quick back set to make it 15-13. Outside Nick Summers hammered a short set as St. Charles retied it for the eighth time at 16-all. But kills by Cunningham and Lottman coupled with untimely Cardinal miscues resulted in a five point Bomber sortie. After one more kill by DiSabato, St. Xavier raced to the finish as Jennings and Lottman teamed for a match point block. Bishop Watterson eased past Lakota East 29-27, 25-20 in the Silver Bracket final. The Eagles rallied from 12-17 to win game one. For the day, Watterson was led by Anthony Randolph who spiked 38 kills on .442 accuracy, and also contributed five aces, 10 blocks and 29 digs. Jack Otte added 23 kills and setter Jorden Fry put up 57 assists.
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