Ohiohsvb.com                    News About Ohio High School Volleyball

Home
About the Website
Contacting the Website
Contributing To the Site
Navigation
Common Questions
News On Border States
Links To Other Sites

Toledo St. Ursula tops St. Henry in battle of state champions to win Best of Ohio

September 7, 2005

By Jim Jicha

Toledo St. Ursula won their Best of Ohio Tournament for the second straight year this past weekend, in a day of volleyball at its best. This tournament traditionally fields the strongest group of teams top to bottom of any in Ohio. This year was no exception, especially considering that Cincinnati St. Ursula wound up in last place.

The host Arrows defeated St. Henry in a championship match between defending Division I and IV state champions. These teams lost heavily to graduation last year, but both appear ready to make another run for the roses.

For a while it appeared St. Henry would make short work of the Arrows. An opening volley kill by Betsy Hoying gave the Redskins a sideout and brought Kayla Lefeld, who had sizzled opponents all day with her jump serves, to the line. An ace and two Arrow miscues later it was 4-0. Following a kill by St. Ursula outside Ashley Heyman, Hoying and Bethany Puthoff smashed three more points for a 7-1 lead.

The Arrows narrowed the margin to 7-5 on a kill from sophomore Alliya Drzewiecki, a dump by setter Emily Florian and a too-hot-to-handle blast by Allison Florian.

But St. Henry spurted out to 11-5, and then 14-6 via two tips by Sandy Beyke.

With the Redskins up 17-11, Lefeld blocked Allison Florian and served up another ace and three points. Any St. Ursula hopes for a late rally were dashed by four serving errors.

The Arrows got their passing game together at the start of game two and began effectively pounding away at St. Henry’s defenses. This produced a big momentum swing, as St. Henry never led in games two and three.

Heyman fueled an initial 4-2 run in game two with two kills. She teamed with Felicia Shapiro on a key block that forced a sideout which kept Lefeld from serving up any mischief.

Hoying scored her third kill of the game on a tip, but St. Ursula moved up 6-3 and kept the Redskins at bay as the score increased to 13-10. 

On the next volley St. Henry came up with a big play, as libero Kylie Elking dug a blast from Drzewiecki and Puthoff drove a screamer to the opposite corner. But Arrow outside Kelly Thomas quashed any Redskin plans for shifting momentum with a rightside kill, and Emily Florian served up two aces.

A St. Henry mini-rally was cut short at three by a service error, and St. Ursula moved out 21-14 when Tighe Westrick served an ace and Hailey Marvin and Thomas added kills.

Lefeld led a furious 5-1 Redskin run that cut the lead to 22-19. But Allison Florian, who had scored point 22 on a cross court spike from rightside, encored for the Arrow’s 23^rd. Both teams made some great digs on the next volley, and St. Henry’s Brittany Post saved a sure kill, but Marvin finally got a ball down to stay putting the Arrows on the cusp, after which Allison Florian lined an ace down the line that looked like it would curve out.

With the Arrows up 4-3 in the tiebreaker, Emily Florian served another rally that Puthoff ended with a kill, leaving St. Ursula on top 8-4. Drzewiecki then spiked a rightside cross court kill and Westrick served another run that put the Arrows up 13-4.

Lefeld scored twice more for St. Henry, but Allison Florian took advantage of a rightside mismatch, hitting point 14 cross court, and match point down the line.

St. Ursula was fortunate to make the final, as they had to pull out all the stops to beat a tall, young and very athletic Elyria squad 25-21, 16-25, 15-12 in a semifinal.

The Pioneers have two seniors, outside hitter Kelly Ruth and defensive specialist Erin Sims. Big Ten and Mid-American scouts are watching two of their junior middles, 6’0” Charde’ Phillips and 6’3” Karlee Bruck. Setters Ashley Yuhas and Nicole Bates are also juniors and libero Jen Bower is a sophomore.

Elyria led a good part of game one, going up 6-2 and rallying back on top 16-13 after St. Ursula nosed ahead. Ruth sparked the Pioneers’ initial spurt and sophomore Kelsey Nurre their second. At this point St. Ursula went on a big 10-1 run that resulted in a game one victory.

Heyman started the onslaught with a smash off a slide right, Drzewiecki and Thomas scored two kills apiece, and Abby Walla and Emily Florian served up aces.

Not at all discouraged, Elyria came back strong in game two. The Pioneers battled to a 12-all tie, and then stunned the Arrows with a big run of their own to go up 24-14. Yuhas served seven of the points, garnering two aces, Ruth and Phillips combined for five kills and Phillips added a block.

Elyria’s 24^th point came on a kill though the block by Amanda Medvetz. She’s a freshman, by the way. After two Arrow scores, Phillips put the game on ice with a short set smash.

Game three went back and forth with the Pioneers up 3-2 and 6-5 and the Arrows on top 4-3 and 7-6. After Ruth tied it with a left side kill, St. Ursula rallied for four. Thomas scored off the slide on a great backset from Emily Florian, and Florian served up an ace.

But Elyria was not finished, and they forced a sideout on some great defense. Medvetz then found a hole, Bruck blocked for a point and an Arrow miscue left the game tied again.

At this juncture, Allison Florian stepped up and put the match away. She started with a kill from leftside, and after Bruck retorted with a short set smash, Florian smashed three straight from the rightside.

This was a big match with the winner headed for the final. But a rematch, if there is one, will be even bigger…a regional final with the winner headed for the Nutter Center.

St. Henry reached the final with wins over Cincinnati St. Ursula and Holland Springfield. The match between St. Ursula and St. Henry pitted two of Ohio’s winningest programs in terms of state titles against each other. St. Ursula is tied with Newark Catholic with the most crowns at eight, and St. Henry is third with six. Their match was the kind you like to see from such perennial powers, with big hits, great digs, tense rallies and nail biter games.

Game one was pretty even, with St. Ursula up 13-12, St. Henry went on an 11-4 run that Lefeld ignited by serving up five points. St. Ursula junior Michelle Kenning scored two points to keep her team alive. After a third kill she stepped to the line and served a rally of her own, with two aces and a kill by sophomore Katie Kortekamp cutting St. Henry’s lead to 23-22. But a Bulldog lift ended the run and a spike by Lefeld ended the game.

Game two was close most of the way, but when Kenning scored a kill and served an ace, and a hit by sophomore Jayna Stenger rolled off the net onto St. Henry's floor to give St. Ursula a 23-17 edge, it looked like a tiebreaker was in the offing.

Lefeld had other ideas, however, and led a run that ended the match. She ignited the comeback with a kill through the block. Post and Beyke double blocked Stenger, and a serve by Kendra Rutschilling was touched three times but not returned. Lefeld spiked another kill and Post blocked Stenger again. An errant Bulldog missive tied it.

St. Henry’s next serve was out, but Lefeld delivered a smash that was blocked way out. Stenger put the Bulldogs up 25-24, but Lefeld powered another kill and then served out, with Puthoff scoring the go ahead point.

As for St. Ursula, things went from bad to worse as they fell to Toledo Central Catholic 23-25, 23-25, and then to a fired up Anthony Wayne 25-12, 21-25, 10-15.

The Irish led St. Ursula most of game one and were up 19-12, but St. Ursula chipped away, trailing 23-22 and 24-23 before Herman delivered a knockout smash that was blocked out.

Game two was tight with St. Ursula ahead or tied much of the way. A block by freshman Liz Williams gave the Bulldogs a 20-18 edge, and a kill by Central’s Frazier followed by a net serve made it 21-19. Central tied it when a block by Herman was dug into the wall and a Bulldog hit sailed out. Kenning scored on a kill and block, but an intervening net serve kept Central within a point, and a cross court blast by Herman tied it at 23.

Frazier blocked Kenning’s next spike, and teamed with Petrie on another block that resulted in a Bulldog lift, ending the match.

St. Ursula appeared to hit their stride in game one against Anthony Wayne. But the Generals stayed with them in game two tying at 20 on a block by Michelle Rainigh. With Melissa Deacon serving, setter Andrea Helminiak made a great dig that landed in St. Ursula’s corner. She followed this with a dump, and after a Bulldog error, Deacon scored an ace. The Generals’ next serve was in the net, but Helminiak scored another dump, ending the game and sending her teammates into frenzied excitement.

The Generals came out firing in game three and never trailed. Freshman Allison Papenfuss scored on a tip to put them up 5-3, and an ace by Hope Hernacki made it 9-4.

Stenger scored two kills to cut the lead to 10-7, but Melanie Heinlein scored on a tip for sideout. A spike by Papenfuss was blocked over but out, and an errant Bulldog spike coming after some nice digs by the Generals made it 13-7. Another dump by Helminiak gave Anthony Wayne a 14-8 match point lead. After two more points by St. Ursula, Heinlein made a great dig on Kenning, and Papenfuss delivered the coup de grace.

It wasn’t St. Ursula’s day, but the Bulldogs are young, with only one senior and three juniors.

Elsewhere, a possible all Toledo City League final between the St. Ursula Arrows and Central Catholic was preempted in round one by a shorter Holland Springfield squad who won in three 25-15, 16-25, 15-11. Central’s top two hitters are 6’1” Ellen Herman and 6’2” Ashley Frazier, while the Blue Devils have one player over 5’11” (6’5” Stephanie Browne moved to San Francisco over the summer).

In control most of game one, Springfield moved to a 21-14 lead on a spike from 6’1” junior Morgan Paul, and after a brief sideout, finished Central off on two kills by outside hitter/setter Hillary Fountain, an ace by Maggie Morse and a kill by Paul.

The Blue Devils roared to a 6-0 game two lead behind the hitting of Malorie Lotycz, but Frazier got Central on track with a serving run that included two aces. The Irish soon took an 11-10 lead, and upped it to 15-11. With Central ahead 20-16, Frazier again went to the line and served out. Mallory Strall had a kill, Frazier another ace, Herman smoked an overpass for point 24, and after a long intense volley Meg Petrie blasted the game winner.

Central was in charge for two thirds of game three, with Herman and Strall fueling the offense. However, Springfield was ahead at the end.

The Irish took an 8-5 edge on an ace by Petrie, after which the teams traded points, Maggie Morse blocking a tip by Frazier, who reposted with a terminating blast. Things began to unravel for the Irish when their next serve sailed out.

Springfield sophomore Roxanne Duran scored on a kill to end an intense volley. With Central up 10-9, Duran scored on a leftside cross court blast. This sent Fountain to the line and she served four points as Lotycz hammered one cross court, and she and Paul blocked Herman. After Herman scored for a brief respite, Lotycz smashed the winner which was blocked back over, but out of bounds.

In other first round action, Elyria survived a second game rally by Kenston, beating the Bombers 25-18, 27-25. Kenston rallied from 17-21 behind the serving of outside hitter Kristin Kovach, and tied game two on a spike from Sarah Gallik. The Pioneers went up by two via a net serve and a block by Bruck. But Sam Marincek kept Kenston alive with a spike that was dug out of bounds, and after an errant serve put the Pioneers at match point, the Bombers forged ahead on kills by Gallik and Hallie Hanks, and an an errant Elyria spike.

Bruck quickly ended matters, stopping the rally with a kill, and after Ruth scored on a cross court blast, spiking the match winner.

The match for fifth place between Central and Kenston went to a tiebreaker, which was tight all the way although the Bombers never led. Hanks and Gallik led Kenston, while Petrie and Herman did the honors for Central who also got two aces from Andrea Bonitati. With Central up 11-9, Kenston sophomore Jane Moore scored on a cross court spike. Herman parried that with a kill, and after hitting one out scored another kill followed by an ace to make it 14-11. A tip by Marincek and a Central error gave new life to Kenston, but the Bombers got the ball tangled in the net trying to fend a spike by Petrie and the match was over.

In the match for third Elyria breezed past Springfield 25-13, 25-10. Bruck served ten points in game one. Her first six broke open a 5-5 tie, and her last four put the Pioneers up 23-12. In game two, Nicole Bates served 10 in a row to give Elyria a 24-7 lead, and Yuhas spiked the match winner.