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St. Ignatius rallies from 23-18 game two deficit to down stubborn Massillon Jackson in four April 24, 2008 by Jim Jicha A volleyball match can turn on a dime, and Tuesday night’s clash between Massillon Jackson and fifth ranked St. Ignatius was a prime example. With a 23-18 game two lead, Jackson was poised to go up 2-0. But one timeout and seven points later the visiting Wildcats were en route to a 25-27, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20 victory. The two teams parried each other so well with crosscourt shots, short set terminations, diving digs, blocks, aces, service errors, net touches and some long hits that neither team was able to sustain any momentum. Whenever one would spurt ahead the other would rally. Overall there were 41 ties, 14 in game one which also featured nine lead changes. The first three sets were deadlocked at 25, 23 and 22, respectively, and the finale was knotted at 18 before the Wildcats finally pulled away. St. Ignatius scored first on a net serve and Jackson tied on a wide hit. This set the tone for game one as much of the scoring came on unforced errors, to the frustration of fans on both sides. Jackson ran off five straight as middle hitter Mike Krieg spiked a kill, Zach Pugh blocked and Jason Adkins served up an ace. But the Wildcats roared back to a tie at 6, with kills by Gregory Herceg and Alex Robertson, and from there it was a battle to the end as Jackson’s biggest margin was 20-17 and St. Ignatius led by a point several times. Junior middle Patrick Adler demolished a Matthew Roth short set to start a three point run that moved the Wildcats back atop 22-21. Adler and senior outside JJ Zakelj double blocked a Polar Bear spike from backcourt for the go ahead. But a service error tied the score, and Krieg smashed a short set by Alex White to put Jackson up 23-22. Two errors prevented Jackson from clinching, but Krieg kept his team a step ahead with two more kills. Robertson retied the game for St. Ignatius at 25 with a knock down crosscourt smash, but Jackson senior outside Geoff Groenke countered with a crosscourt blast of his own. The Polar Bears’ next hit was out, but a St. Ignatius defender was in the net and that ended the game. Roth started set two with an ace as the Wildcats again scored first, and Krieg and Adkins promptly tied it with a double block. St. Ignatius edged ahead 4-2 and 6-3, but Groenke nicely recovered an errant set, tipping it into a hole, and White atoned for the set with an ace to tie at 6. Scoring went back and forth, with Roth scoring twice for the Wildcats on dumps and Pugh spiking and acing for the Polar Bears. Jackson was up 12-10 and 14-12, and St. Ignatius moved ahead 15-14 on a tip by Sean Kristoff. At that juncture, White scored a dump and served up an ace, starting a 9-3 Polar Bear run that resulted in the 23-18 lead. St. Ignatius called timeout and St. Ignatius Coach Casey Marcelo told his team “We’re just gonna have fun. We do well when we have fun”. When play resumed Adler had fun crunching a short set by Roth. That brought Zakelj to the line and his pin point placements resulted in four aces as Jackson failed to return all six serves. Game three began differently as Jackson scored first, but was otherwise the same for awhile. St. Ignatius went up 3-1 and 5-3, Jackson led 6-5 and 7-6, and the two squads deadlocked five times. But then Kristoff served a six point run, including two aces, and the Wildcats took a 12-7 lead. A block by White started a four-point Polar Bear run, but Zakelj ended that with a kill and Robertson followed with an ace as St. Ignatius maintained their lead at three. They increased it to 22-17 on blocking and digging by Adler and Roth. Now it was Jackson’s turn to rally and Krieg started things off with a termination from back court. Adkins followed with a booming block on Zakelj, Groenke served an ace, Pugh scored a kill and when Groenke aced again the game was tied. But a payback was not to be as Adler smoked a short set and Zakelj tipped off the block to put St. Ignatius on the verge. And, after Krieg scored once more from backcourt, Adler demolished a short set for the game winner. Krieg and Pugh got the Polar Bears off to a 3-0 start in game four, and after five more ties the home team was up 15-12. St. Ignatius knotted it again at 15 and, following a kill by Groenke, scored twice for a 17-16 lead. Two more ties ensued, before the Wildcats finally pulled away with a four point run on blocks by Roth and Robertson, a well placed hit by Zakelj and a left handed dump by Roth that followed a dig at the net from Evan Dolinar. John Gray smoked a Wildcat overpass to end the run, but Robertson spiked a kill into an empty left corner. A net serve gave Jackson a reprieve, but Adler followed with a block that ended an intense volley. That put St. Ignatius at match point, and when Jackson was unable to return a well placed serve from Robertson, the match was over. With the win St. Ignatius moves to 9-2, while Jackson is now 7-3. The Wildcats are second in the North Region behind Archbishop Hoban, while Jackson is ranked fifth. ****************************************************************************** Stat leaders for St. Ignatius: JJ Zakelj 5 aces; Patrick Adler 6, 9 kills; Michael Messina 7 digs; Matthew Roth 46 assists |
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