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Archbishop Hoban claims first boys state volleyball crown with hard fought win over Cincinnati McNicholas June 3, 2008 By Jim Jicha The top ranked Akron Hoban Knights captured their first boys state volleyball crown Sunday with a hard fought 25-23, 27-25, 25-20 win over second rated Cincinnati McNicholas in a match played before a large and supportive crowd at Hilliard Davidson High School. It was Hoban’s second time in a state final - they finished runner-up to Cincinnati Moeller in 1998 - and it was the Rockets’ first appearance at this level. The Knights again kept their fans on the edges of their seats in the first two games, as they overcame 23-22 deficits in both. In Saturday’s semifinal Hoban downed St. Charles 25-23, 25-23, 25-15. Much of the scoring in the first two games came directly on blocks and hits. Only 24 of the 100 points were due to errors, and several of the miscues resulted from good plays by the opposition. McNicholas, with their triad of 6’6” blockers, sophomore James Hofmann and Steven Battaglia, and junior Gary Bauer, challenged the Knights’ hitters all day, and indeed Hoban Coach Matt Mihelic had cautioned his team beforehand “to expect the block”. In the semifinal Mihelic had noticed the Rockets defense would sit far back, so the Knights’ strategy was to tip, up and over the block short, and when McNicholas cheated up to dig the tip, then place the ball deep. He also told hitting star JoJo Sokol to swing away against a solo block, and hit around the double block either by tipping or spiking the ball off their hands out of bounds. That, Mihelic said, “worked well”. And the block came quickly. Bauer stuffed 6’5” middle Nick Crème for the first point of the match, and after Paul Blischak scored for Hoban, Bauer blocked Mike Horth on the outside. So the strategy didn’t always work. But Crème got past the blocker on his next attempt, and after the Rockets double hit trying to save a block by Crème who teamed with setter Scott Weaver, Hoban hitting star JoJo Sokol smoked a kill down the left. Bauer responded with a kill, and following a net serve, Hofmann smashed a Michael Oberschmidt short set into Hoban’s back court and Bauer served an ace to leave the score knotted at 6. Hoban scored three straight to go up 10-7 and McNicholas retied at 10 when Bauer blocked a Sokol spike from back court. After a seventh tie at 11, Crème scored twice on a tip over the block into a hole followed by a blast down the middle to make it 12-10 Hoban. The hitting really became intense, as Bauer delivered a knock down kill, and Sokol demolished a short set from Weaver. Blischak then tipped over Bauer, who fired back with another knock down aimed at Weaver. Sokol scored on a spike that was blocked over but out, and Hofmann terminated a line drive. The two liberos, Hoban’s Andrew Veverka and the Rockets’ Mark Hamad, got quite a workout! All these ballistics left Hoban on top 16-14, and when Sokol tipped over the block, scored from back court and served up an ace, it seemed the Knights were on their way. But a straight down kill by Rocket 6’4” outside Sean Von Hoene made the score 20-16, and following another tip by Crème, the Knights committed three errors. Blischak spiked a termination deep to make it 22-19. But Bauer took charge of things with a kill followed by a block on Sokol, and following a Hoban time out, he and Hofmann teamed up for yet another block. The Knights then hit wide to the left trying to avoid another block, and that put the Rockets on top for the first time since 2-1. Mihelic called another timeout and told his team to “relax, make your plays, play your game and do your jobs...passers pass, hitters hit, setters set…keep it simple”. He reminded them that they’d been in close games all year and they had the players to finish. That did the trick as Sokol tipped for a point, and Crème served up a huge ace. Crème encored that with an even bigger dig of a Rocket smash, and shortly thereafter an errant Rocket hit ended the game. McNicholas rocketed ahead 6-1 in game two behind an ace by Oberschmidt, a well placed liner by opposite Jason Wiegand, a booming block by Hofmann on Sokol and a kill from Bauer. Two more kills by Bauer and Van Hoene made it 8-3 and Hoban called time out. Mihelic said afterward he felt the players were at that point trying to tailor their play to McNicholas’ weaknesses (of which there aren’t many), so he told them again “to play our game”, and they agreed to that. Van Hoene kept the Rockets apace to 10-5, but after an errant Rocket serve, Sokol dug a dump and drilled a point down the left side from back court, Weaver blocked Van Hoene and Sokol blasted another kill. And after Battaglia blocked Blischak to end that run, Weaver came back with a dump and Blischak tied the score at 11 with a well placed hit. Bauer put McNicholas back in front 14-12 with two kills and a block, but Crème demolished a short set, Sokol blocked Bauer and 6’6” middle hitter Curtis May blocked the Knights in front 15-14. Bauer and Sokol traded short sets and Hofmann retied with a blast to the back middle. Hoban scored three to go up 19-16, but the Rockets promptly retied it. Hoban then went on top 21-19 and 22-20. But Battaglia then blocked Blischak, and following a Knights error, Bauer terminated a cross court spike for another 23-22 Rockets lead. Blischak retied it with a spike through traffic, and defensive specialist Quinn Hodgkiss served an ace to put Hoban at match point 24-23. Bauer had other ideas and sent the game into overtime with a kill to the back line. Sokol cremated a cross court shot and Hofmann riposted with a well placed hit. Sokol made it 26-25 with a tip that McNicholas got tangled in the net. The final volley was intense, with several digs including a diving save by Hamad. It finally ended when Sokol demolished a cross court liner that was dug out of bounds. Both teams played such great volleyball in game two it was hard to tell the difference, but there was a big one, and it occurred at the service line. McNicholas had four errant serves, while Hoban was 15 for 15! Hoban never trailed in game three. They scored three straight to go up 4-1, and opened a huge 12-4 lead after demolitions by May and Sokol. But Bauer put the brakes on with yet another block, and the Rockets added two more on a block by Wiegand and a kill from Hofmann. However, McNicholas couldn’t get any momentum going and the score proceeded to 20-15, and at that point Crème pounded a kill on a slide to the right. He then blocked Hofmann, and the teams traded points to 24-17. Von Hoene scored on a termination and Hoban committed two miscues, before Sokol spiked another game point with a cross court shot from the left that sliced off a dig. Sokol scored all six game points last weekend. Afterward he said it “just happened that way…an opportunity happened to be there and I seized it, and it ended up working”. The ability to seize an opportunity is one major key to winning, in life as well as on the volleyball court. Having confidence in oneself is another. When asked about his team’s pulling out the first two games Sokol said “I knew we could come back, we could do anything, and we pushed through and ended up winning”. As for winning the state championship Sokol called it "unbelievable”. He added “It’s so emotional… I’ve been with these guys for four years…it’s ridiculous, I can’t describe it”. Mihelic felt it was a relief after four years of working with nine seniors “day in and day out, learning all the nuances of volleyball”. And you could see the pride gleaming in his eyes when he concluded “Those nine boys really deserve that trophy”. ***************************************************************************** Several Hoban players were sporting Mohawk haircuts at the tournament, a couple on Saturday, and most of the starters in Sunday's final. Coach Mihelic said he didn’t know how it started. “I walked in Friday night and they started doing it, and when we won Saturday they kept doing it…this is a wild and crazy time for them”. JoJo Sokol explained that it was their senior year and they wanted to do something special for state. “It was Nick Crème’s idea”, he said, adding “the night before in the hotel we were debating doing it, and he (Crème) was in the bathroom shaving his hair before we even knew we were doing it, and somebody yelled ‘Hey, Nick’s doing it!’”
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