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Kilbourne team to beat in East after winning OCC Challenge

By Jim Jicha

May 18, 2004

Worthington Kilbourne won the OCC Challenge last Tuesday, defeating Mt. Vernon 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21 in a battle of OCC Division winners. The victory, their second over the Yellow Jackets, confirms the Wolves to be the team to beat among Central Ohio teams.

Kilbourne has also beaten OCC leaders Coffman, Darby, Gahanna, and Pickerington Central along with independent St. Charles. They did not play Delaware, but finished higher in two major tournaments they participated in.

The Wolves’ only blemish against Columbus area teams came in their own tournament when Gahanna nipped them in a 25-23, 25-19, 11-25, 23-25, 15-13 squeaker. Their other losses are to state powers LaSalle, St. Xavier and Centerville.

Led by the hitting and blocking of Trent Kochis and Allan Culbertson, Mt. Vernon raced to early first game leads of 5-0 and 8-2, but Kilbourne rallied from 8-13 to tie behind the serving of Mitchell Staloch. After the Yellow Jackets went back on top 16-14, the Wolves scored 10 of the last 12 points to win going away.

Jordan Lookabaugh and Chris Warner fueled the scoring with key blocks and two kills while Kevin Lookabaugh contributed an ace. Alex Kamenetskiy scored the final two points on a block and kill.

Mt. Vernon broke out to a 3-1 edge in game two, but Kamenetskiy spiked a kill and then served up two aces to rally Kilbourne, and when Nick Baehr blocked Kochis it was 6-3. But what goes around comes around and trailing 11-7, the Yellow Jackets rallied for 5 points with setter Nick Orsborn back handing a dump into a hole and then blocking Kamenetskiy.

The teams traded leads with Kilbourne going up 19-16 on a short set Staloch-to-Baehr  kill followed by another Kamenetskiy ace.

After that it was all Mt. Vernon as the Wolves committed untimely errors and the Yellow Jackets came up with some heads up plays. An errant Kilbourne spike made it 19-17 and Mt. Vernon followed by returning a well aimed Kevin Lookabaugh smash via three one hand reaction digs that saw the ball land just in on Kilbourne’s left side.

A short set Orsborn-to-Culberston kill put Mt. Vernon up 22-20 and, following two errors by the Wolves and two great digs by Mt. Vernon at game point, Orsborn and Culbertson teamed up again for the game winner.

In the third frame Kilbourne started with leads of 6-3, 9-5, 12-8 only to have Mt. Vernon come back to tie at 16 on John Vonck's smash of an overpass after a nice serve by Orsborn, but Kilbourne pulled out to 21-17. Mt. Vernon scored two more when Alex Nixon found a hole on a nice two handed shot from back court, and Culbertson blocked a Jordan Lookabaugh short set spike. However, the Wolves prevailed scoring the game winner on a left hand dump by Staloch.

For a while it seemed Mt. Vernon might tie the match again when they took leads of 4-3, 8-4 and 14-9 (after Kilbourne tied at 8 apiece on two aces by Kevin Lookabaugh). Culbertson scored on three kills and a block, Wade Laughery added a kill and Kilbourne threw in three serving errors.

The Wolves, however, pecked away at the lead. Two kills by Baehr made it 14-12. And after Kochis cremated a spike that Kilbourne dug into the rafters to put Yellow Jackets up 16-12, a cross court kill by Kamenetskiy, a hitting error by Mt. Vernon and an ace from Staloch cut the margin to 16-15.

Mt. Vernon went up 18-16, but a two hit call on them followed by a booming double block from Baehr and Kevin Lookabaugh tied matters. The Yellow Jackets took their last lead on a net serve and, after Kilbourne moved in front 21-20, got one final tie on a long serve. Unfortunately their next serve was long and a four hit call put the Wolves on top 22-20.

Mt. Vernon was not through. A spike by Culbertson following two heads up saves landed for a kill. Culbertson then made a great dig but Kamenetskiy responded with a kill to put Kilbourne up 23-21, and a four hit call and hitting error ended it.

Kamenetskiy led the Wolves with 11 kills, but their defense is what carried them in this match. Warner had 16 digs, followed by 13 for Kamenetskiy and 8 for libero Phil Moore. Jordan Lookabaugh and Baehr had 8 blocks each.

Mt. Vernon was led by Kochis (9 kills), Culbertson (9 blocks) and Orsborn (25 assists), and the team had 23 blocks overall.

Hilliard Darby won the battle of OCC runners-up, taking Dublin Coffman in five, 23-25, 25-11, 25-16, 17-25, 15-10. Coffman had beaten Darby 30-28, 20-25, 15-12 three days earlier in the Vandalia-Butler Tournament.

One problem with trying to see all matches at events like these is when matches run simultaneously, and so I did not see the first game won by Coffman. A Darby fan assured me it was exciting despite having watched her team lose.

The second game was all Darby which was to the home crowds' delight, although it was not especially exciting.

Coffman got off to a 2-0 start on a nice dump by setter Matt LeVan and Brian Johnson's block of an overpass. But when Hilliard middle hitter Ben Willford scored a kill, sophomore Jake McRae went back and served up eleven points on three aces, two points by Kyle Sebastian, another kill by Willford and some errors by Coffman.

Ross Armstrong scored three times for Dublin on two tips and a spike, but Darby First Team all-OCC junior Jason Martin countered two kills and an ace. Then McCrae tipped into a hole on a play at the net to put Darby up 19-7.

Darren Quelette and Adam Young scored two for Coffman, but the teams traded points to make it 21-11. Willford scored a kill and miscues by Dublin ended it.

Although game three was closer, Willford went on a rampage against which Coffman had no riposte and Darby won again. The 6’5” middle hitter had at least nine points. Dublin stayed close early thanks to three points from Ross Armstrong.

With Darby up 9-5 Willford blocked Dublin middle hitter Brian Johnson, then cratered Brandon Mitchell’s short set into the hardwood. The Rocks came back with two, only to see Willford line a kill to back court and team up with Mitchell on a block. The teams traded two points apiece with Willford scoring Darby’s on a great tip over the block (just after being rejected on a spike attempt) and another short set blast. That made it 15-9, and he later added two more to make it 21-12.

Nick Persons killed an overpass for point 24, and after Young and Johnson finally blocked Willford, and Johnson scored a kill, Persons put away the game winner.

In game four the Rocks opened up a 19-12 lead, which I did not get to see. But they stayed hot on my return, with Armstrong getting a kill and two blocks, libero Adam Earl digging a spike with his head, Quelette nailing a kill down the line, and Johnson scoring the game winner on a blast that was dug into the rafters and then way out of bounds.

Game saw the Panthers jump out to a 6-0 lead, once again with McCrae at the sering line. Willford started the scoring with a tip. Persons followed a snazzy one hand dig of a dump by LeVan with a kill, and followed that with another kill off a block attempt by Johnson. Willford stuffed a block for point 4 and McCrae followed with two aces.

Scott Davidson scored for the Rocks, and after a tip by Mitchell put Darby up 6-1, Davidson found pay dirt again. A smash by Willford was blocked back over the net but out.

The teams traded points leaving the score at 12-8. Darby committed an infraction and when Young blocked Willford it looked like things might get interesting. But Willford scored on a great tip that Earl almost pancaked, Martin scored a kill and a booming block by Willford gave Darby the victory.

While not completely satisfied with his team’s performance, Panther Coach Shawn Parsell had praise for four players. Sophomore outside Nick Parsons “had his best game of the year” according to Parsell, adding that he “played aggressive and swung hard”.

Parsell also cited libero Jamie Lett for playing his best match of the year in that position. He was also pleased with Jason Martin’s outside attack.

And last but not least, Parsell was very happy with the play of Willford who has overcome some difficulties this year, most recently playing with a broken hand. Parcell said Willford “is the heart and soul of our offense and defense”, adding that his middle hitter is a first team All-State caliber player.

Willford and Martin were named 1st Team all-OCC. Parsell noted that Martin is only a junior who is capable of even more consistency.

Delaware defeated Gahanna 25-21, 25-23, 21-15, 25-19 to win the Challenge between third place finishers. Pete Rose had 16 kills with a .333 kill percentage while Jason Berwanger and Billy Rupe contributed 10 apiece. Coach Gregg Snouffer cited three hits by Berwanger in game four as key to the victory and also praised the setting of senior Bob Matthews.

Gahanna was led by the hitting of Landon Bentz, AJ Leopard and Travis Coner.

Hilliard Davidson topped Westerville South in the fourth place match 25-21, 25-19, 25-22. In the first game Davidson was led by the hitting and jump serving of Josh Youngblood and hitting and ace serving of Michael Yarman. Lucas Gunka scored the winning kill.

Westerville’s Rob Woudneh scored on some well placed hits, and David Brodine added a jump serve ace.