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Cincinnati Elder dominates strong balanced field at Centerville Elite May 6, 2008 by Jim Jicha Top ranked Cincinnati Elder defeated Greater Cincinnati League rival Cincinnati St. Xavier 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 to take the 17th edition of the Centerville Volleyball Elite Tournament played April 26. It was Elder’s third win over the number three rated Bombers this season. This year’s Elite was notable for two things. Elder dominated the field of seven ranked teams, losing only one game and yielding 17 or less in the nine they won. But everyone else found the going tough. Only three matches were decided in straight sets, and one of them was a virtual draw. Of the eleven games third ranked Cincinnati Moeller played, only one was decided by more than three points. The Crusaders nipped number-four Hilliard Darby 29-27, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25 in the match for third. Moeller lost a semifinal with St. Xavier 22-25, 28-26, 27-25, 25-19. And they barely won their opening round match with Mt. Vernon in straight sets 26-24, 25-22, 26-24. By the time Moeller and Darby were done, the other matches were long over and the nets were down in the auxiliary gym. In other third round results, sixth rated Centerville downed Division 2 top ranked Archbishop Hoban 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21 while Mt. Vernon pulled out all the stops to edge Division 2 ninth rated Walsh Jesuit 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 25-16, 15-13 for seventh. Elder’s win over St. Xavier was impressive to say the least. The Bombers led each set initially, but Elder ran away with all three. The Panthers scored five in a row to take charge of game one 6-2. Outside hitters Rob Malone and Andrew Wessels started the run with kills, and junior outside Clancy Gay scored on a dig over the net of a blast hit by St. Xavier outside hitting ace Ryan Doll. Gay served up an ace and outside Alex Haring scored off a Bomber block. St. Xavier trimmed the margin to 7-5 as Doll pounded a spike that was blocked into the pole, and Ryan Noonan blocked. But Andrew Wessels and 6’4” middles Jake Nieheisel and Tony Baldrick teamed up for three blocking points, and Baldrick terminated three Craig Wessels sets to improve the Panthers to 16-9. Scoring went back and forth from there until Panther libero Alex Bertke ended an intense volley and the game with a dig that went over the net into a hole. Outside hitter Chaz Jennings pounded a Derek Kues short set to start game two for St. Xavier, and Doll pinpointed a hit for a 2-1 lead. But the Bombers could not stop Nieheisel and Baldrick, as Elder built a 13-8 lead that ballooned to 20-9. Baldrick terminated a brief Bomber mini-rally at 23-13 with a crosscourt shot of a Craig Wessels backset, and Malone ended the game with a booming block. St. Xavier scored four straight to go up 5-3 in game three as Michael Cunningham and freshman Ben Lottman scored kills. But Andrew Wessels stopped the run with a well-placed two-handed hit. Craig Wessels followed with eight serving points as Baldrick contributed a tip, kill and block. St. Xavier came back with three straight, but Elder sprinted ahead 19-9. At that point, Ryan Engdahl and Steve Walsh led a 7-2 Bomber charge, but Elder dashed any comeback hopes with a three-point spurt, and one Bomber point later they won the title on a kill by 6’6” junior middle Curt Graman. Hilliard Darby battled Archbishop Moeller all the way in their contest for third, but suffered the same fate as on April 11 when they fell to the Crusaders at home 9-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-22. Game one went back and forth with Darby up 21-19 and Moeller on top 24-22. 6’6” Ohio State bound middle John Tholen smoked a short set from setter Austin Miller who then tied it with an ace. After 6’4” outside Chris Tenkman scored a go-ahead for Moeller, Tholen pounded two more kills to put the Panthers back on top. But Tenkman retied it at 27 with a kill, and 6’4” junior outside Richie Lovell blocked and spiked the Crusaders home. Moeller edged ahead 18-15 in game two and kept pace with Lovell spiking the game winner. Game three was a repeat of game one, only this time the Panthers prevailed with 6’4” Austin Brown spiking and tipping the go ahead and winning points. Darby struck first in game four and kept a step ahead through three ties. They surged in front 19-12 on an 8-3 run fueled by Tholen, Brown and Howard. But hopes for a fifth game proved ephemeral, as 6’4” Crusader middle Andrew Boerger spiked a cross court kill, and defensive specialist Ian Kowalski served six points behind kills by Trevor Skove, 6’7” Penn State recruit Mark Shipp and a block by setter Vincent Palopoli. Darby remained a step ahead through five more ties until Moeller finally grabbed the lead at 25-24 on a kill by Skove. A Crusader lift ended an intense volley and resulted in another tie. Darby was then called for a service line violation, and when a Darby player chased a dig into the other court the match was Moeller’s. Centerville and Hoban split their first two sets in the match for fifth. Elks’ outside hitter Austin Tudor spiked the winning kill in game one. Hoban, led by hitting and blocking from JoJo Sokol and May, and a dump from setter Scott Weaver, took a 12-6 edge in game two and kept pace to the end. The Elks stepped up their defense in the next two games to prevail. For the match Centerville scored 16 blocks for points and garnered 92 digs over the match. Tudor banged out 19 kills and 6’6” middle and Steve Gang added 15 to spur the offense. **************************************************************************** If Darby was frustrated with their loss to Moeller, they can certainly empathize with their first round victim Hoban. Two weeks earlier the Knights had lost a nail biter to Darby 23-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-18, 15-13. This time was even more agonizing as they saw a 14-11 match point tiebreaker lead slip away. Having lost set one, Hoban tied the second at 22 on a booming block by 6’6” middle Curtis May, and they took the lead as libero Andrew Veverka dug a dump and outside Paul Blishchak spiked a kill. Darby obliged with a long hit and the teams traded errors to the end. Hoban took charge of game three with leads of 14-9 and 17-11. With the Knights up 22-15, 6’4” outside JoJo Sokol spiked a kill and served an ace, and a long Panther hit sealed the win. Darby rebounded in game four, going ahead for good 11-7 on a five-point run. Hoban closed to 17-16 on a block by May, but Dustin Horn sparked an 8-1 Panther dash to the finish. The tiebreaker went back and forth up to 11. At that point May slammed a kill in the middle and Hoban setter Scott Weaver teamed up with 6’5” middle Nick Crème for two blocks on 6’5” outside Derek Brooks that put the Knights on the verge of avenging that earlier loss. But Brooks had other ideas, and turned things around with two kills. Hoban then hit into the net, trying to avoid Brooks. That tied it up and after a block by Miller, Brown scored to give Darby their third win this season over the Knights. In first round action, Centerville stayed close for awhile in game one with St. Xavier. After kills by Tudor and junior outside Eric Wohlford and a block by junior middle Dan Cox, they trailed 14-13. But Bomber junior Ken Doud responded with a kill off a great backset by Derek Kues, and freshman Matthew Kues served up an ace, enabling St. Xavier to pull away. Doll pounded a kill and, following Matthew Kues’ dig of a block at the net, blasted a crosscourt shot, capping a four point run that ended game one. Centerville came back strong in game two and won game three, behind setter Andrew Ervin, libero Sean Hayes and Tudor and Gang at the net, but St. Xavier took charge of game four.
Mt. Vernon, led by two sophomores, setter Carter Cassell and middle Ben Bennett, along with senior Sam Bennett, led much of the final set with Moeller. But the Crusaders scored six straight to go up 22-18, scoring three on blocks by Mark Holtkamp and three on Yellow Jacket miscues. Mt. Vernon rallied back to 24-24 on kills from senior setter/opposite Kurt Holland. But an untimely long serve put Moeller back on top, and Boerger followed digs by Lovell and Skove with a block for the win. In game two, Mt. Vernon had led 16-15 after a kill by senior middle Sam Bennett, 19-18 following an ace by sophomore setter/opposite Chris Ingersol, and 21-19 after a kill by Holland. But then Kevin Tenkman blocked to start a five-point Crusader rally, and after one more Yellow Jacket point from Ben Bennett, Lovell spiked the game winner off a block. Walsh Jesuit gave Elder an opening round struggle in game one behind hitting of senior outside Kevin Eichenbaum and sophomore middle Alex Coundourides, and defense from libero Dave D’Altorio. Elder prevailed 25-17 and won the next two 25-14, 25-9. ***************************************************************************** St. Xavier beat Moeller 22-25, 28-26, 27-25, 25-19 in one semifinal in what was, ironically, the GCL archrivals’ first meeting of the season. Trailing 15-14 in game one, Moeller grabbed the lead on a kill by Shipp, who then applied a big block on Doll. Moeller edged ahead but St. Xavier retied at 22 when Engdahl blocked Shipp. The Crusaders went ahead for good after Palopoli kept a volley alive with a sliding dig at the net. They won on a knock down blast by Shipp. St. Xavier led most of game two which was close throughout. Moeller tied at 21 after saves by Palopoli and Lovell. Jennings and Doll scored for the Bombers, but Lovell nailed a kill and blocked to retie it, and after an ace by defensive specialist Shay Johnson, the Crusaders were up 24-23. The teams traded two point plays and leads, with two blasts by Doll giving St. X the edge at 27-26. Bomber fans were somewhat quiet at that point when Doll remained on the floor holding his ankle. He limped off but Moeller obliged with a long hit that ended the game. St. Xavier opened up a 7-3 third set lead and stayed on top much of the way. Doll returned midway and made his presence known by digging a Crusader blast and then tipping from backcourt into a hole. He later added three cross court blasts, but Moeller kept pace and moved ahead 23-22 when Holtkamp blocked Doll and Dane Owens served an ace. With Moeller up 24-23, Engdahl dug a block and Kues popped the ball into a hole. Tenkman scored for Moeller but St. Xavier let nothing drop thereafter. They scored twice on errors that ended intense volleys, and finally nailed the game down on a volley saved by Kues who dove at the net and again by Doll who dug a knock down smash off the floor. Game four saw the Bombers race to a 5-0 lead they never relinquished. Engdahl scored match point on a kill from backcourt off a set from Doll from a pass by Kues. Elder defeated Darby 25-15, 17-25, 25-11, 25-17 in a semifinal clash between Panthers. Elder pulled away in game one 16-10, behind blocking and hitting of Nieheisel. Game two saw Darby rally from an 8-6 deficit and go up 14-10, as Brooks served an ace and 6’6” Thomas Howard spiked a cross court smash. Elder rallied to within one 17-16, but Brooks scored a crosscourt kill from the left and he and Tholen blocked for three points. Brown served to a 24-16 edge, and following an Elder point, Brooks blasted a hit from the middle to the left line for game point. However, Elder rolled in front 20-9 in game three and won on a block by Gay, who then served two aces to put them atop 4-1 in game four, and Elder stayed ahead the rest of the way. Gay eventually scored on a well-placed hit to make it 24-17, and Baldrick served a match point ace on the back line.
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