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Cincinnati Mother of Mercy avenges 2006 loss to Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, captures first state crown since 1982 November 28, 2007 By Jim Jicha They were ranked in the same spots as last year, but this time number one Cincinnati Mother of Mercy prevailed over third rated Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame to capture their first state championship since 1982. The Bobcat’s 16-25, 25-12, 26-28, 25-19, 15-11 victory avenged a four game title match loss to Mt. Notre Dame in 2006. This was Mercy’s ninth trip to state. They also won titles in 1980 and 1977 and were runners-up in 2006, 2004, 1991 and 1979. It marked the eighth appearance for the Cougars, who have garnered five titles since 1995. The match was a textbook GGCL shootout with long frantic volleys, terminations, saves and even passes of would-be terminations, big blocks, great setting and momentum shifts. The time was 1:49. Mercy Coach Denise Harvey called it a “tremendous battle between two totally awesome teams”. She noted the teams’ styles of play are different, adding “I thought whoever executed their style would win”. Having four 6-foot plus attackers led by the explosive 6’2” Rachael Adams, Mount Notre Dame buries opponents with raw power. Mercy on the other hand, finesses their opposition into submission. The Bobcats are led by University of Cincinnati recruit Missy Harpenau. Adams intimidates the moment she steps onto the court, and she’s over the top literally and figuratively with her 36-inch vertical. She touches 10’6”. Cougar Dame Coach Donna Mechley described her succinctly with “Rachael Adams is above everyone else in abilities”. Adams recorded a team-leading 24 kills, the same number she had in last year’s title match. Harpenau looks more like a ballerina, and would surely be a great one if she wanted to. But luckily for us fans, she’s into volleyball. Avoiding comparisons with Adams, Mechley called her an “incredible player”, adding “Harpenau can pick apart a defense”. She can also thwart an offense. The senior outside hitter led Mercy’s attack with 27 kills and had 20 digs and four block assists. Both teams executed their styles at various times in the title match, but Mercy did so with more consistency. Having split five game matches in league play, with each match consisting of two 2-point games and a 15-9 tiebreaker, the teams continued their “back at ya” play throughout the championship contest. MND struck first as libero Abbie Rees (UNC Charlotte), who led both teams with 23 digs, dug a Harpenau smash off the floor and 6’1” outside Sharon Strizak (University of Dayton) spiked a kill. Mercy outside Kelly O’Conner responded with a blast from right side to an empty back middle. Mercy, led by Emily Cosker and Colleen Meyers and helped by Cougar miscues, rolled to an 8-3 lead. But Adams powered a spike off the block and served an ace, and the Cougars clawed their way back, closing to 11-9 on a smash from 6’1” junior middle Jen Meyer. A blocking wall of Meyer, Adams and Strizak kept Mercy spikes at bay on the next long volley, but Bobcat setter Michelle James (Niagara University) solved that with a dump. Adams responded with a termination, and after an errant Bobcat hit, she sky tipped over the blockers into a hole. Defensive specialist Kylee Tarantino served the Cougars into a 13-12 lead. Harpenau retied with a cross court missile but after an ensuing service error, Adams really got the Cougars going, lining a cross court shot of her own, tipping into a hole and teaming with setter Rachel Rohlfs on a booming block. MND powered to an 18-13 lead, and upped it to 23-15 on kills by Adams, Meyer and sophomore outside Marissa Otto. Meyer spiked a point to make it 24-16 and then set 6’1” junior middle/outside Amanda Wilken, who ended the game with a blast from the middle to the left line. Shrugging off the loss, Mercy never trailed in game two and won going away. Harpenau scored first on a blast that was blocked over but out. After a service error, Meyers put Mercy up 2-1. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Vorherr dug a shot by Adams who parried right back with a tying tip. But Vorherr responded with a kill from backcourt, and buried another after rotating forward. Adams demolished a short set by Rohlfs, but Vorherr tipped for a point and following a Harpenau blast from backcourt, Mercy was up 7-3. MND scored twice on a dump by Rohlfs and a kill by Otto, but kills by O’Conner and Vorherr, and a Cougar attack error put Mercy up 10-5. That prompted Mechley to call timeout, but Mercy continued pulling away with short spurts. O’Conner spiked two kills and Vorherr served an ace to for a 13-6 lead. With the score 15-9, Harpenau pounded a kill off Adams’ block and teamed with Meyers to block Adams, and when Emily Cosker tipped into a hole, MND called their second timeout. Mercy obliged with a service error, but Harpenau placed a two hander on the lift line and Vorherr spiked past the block into deep left to put the Bobcats up 20-10. Following two points by MND, Vorherr started a five point run to the finish with two kills. Defensive specialist Michelle McWilliams served two aces to end the game. MND led most of game three but had to stave off two Mercy game point opportunities at the end. The Bobcats scored first, but Adams sided out and Tarantino served an ace as MND went up 5-1. The Cougars upped the margin to 10-5 as Wilken and Meyer blocked Vorherr, and Wilken spiked a point. Mercy narrowed the gap to 13-10 behind Meyers who nailed a kill and teamed with Harpenau on a block of Adams. But Adams with help from Rohlfs stuff blocked Harpenau and, following a blast by Jackie Schnicke, the Cougars’ lead was 17-12. Cosker and Meyers double blocked Otto to start a 6-1 Bobcat run with O’Conner tying it at 18 on a kill. Meyer got MND back in gear with a tip, and Strizak spiked a kill to give the Cougars a 21-18 lead. At that point Mercy used their second timeout. O’Conner smoked a short set for side out and Harpenau followed with a point, but Strizak nipped the rally with a kill and a Bobcat attack error put MND in charge 23-20. Harpenau and Adams exchanged kills, but after Harpenau scored again and Adams hit long on their next exchange, MND called their second timeout. It was to no avail as James served up an ace to tie, and Harpenau pounded a set from Vorherr. That put Mercy in position to pull a big one out of the fire. Adams put the kibosh on that with a termination into right corner, and after Harpenau scored again, she demolished a short set from Rohlfs. Adams then served, with Wilken spiking and tipping to put the Cougars up 2-1. But Mercy shrugged off this loss as well, blitzing to a 9-1 game four lead. Harpenau and Meyers teamed on two blocks, Harpenau spiked for two points and James served five points, one an ace. Scoring went back and forth awhile from there, leaving Mercy atop 16-7. Strizak helped Adams on a block and scored a kill, but two attack errors left Mercy on top 18-9 and resulted in MND’s second timeout. That didn’t help as the 5’7” Cosker set Harpenau for a kill and spiked two points of her own. And it was good that she did, because the Bobcats then committed two errors and the Cougars mounted a fierce rally to claw their way back into the game. And they might have tied it but for two critical and timely kills by Harpenau. Otto followed the Cougar miscues with a kill and then teamed with Adams to block Meyers. Harpenau intervened with her first point to leave Mercy in front 22-13. Adams then demolished a short set on a running jump approach, and Rohlfs and Wilken double blocked Cosker. Harpenau scored her second kill, this time from back row, after Wilken had rejected two attempts by front row Bobcat attackers. Meyers dove at the net to keep one of Wilken’s blocks alive for Mercy. The score was now 23-15, but it could have been 21-17, and Otto began a four point run with a blast that was blocked over but out. She and Meyer each spiked kills, and after a Mercy timeout, Meyer slammed down another point. But Mercy was too far ahead and when Vorherr ended the rally with a spike off a Cougar block, it was game point. James surprised the Cougars with a game winning dump that ended a fierce intense volley kept alive by Meyer who ran deep to save an errant pass. Mechley said later she had hoped the Cougars momentum would carry over into game five. Harpenau made sure it didn’t. She spiked the first point off the block, and after two MND scores including a straight down shot by Adams, she slammed three more. MND obliged with an attack error to put Mercy up 5-2. Adams spiked another straight down blast and, following saves on both sides by Tarantino and Harpenau, she scored again with a perfectly placed tip. Harpenau sizzled a line drive to middle back, and Adams responded with a shot to Mercy’s right corner. Rohlfs and Wilken blocked Vorherr to tie it at 6. Meyers put Mercy back on top, but the Cougars retied when a spike by Harpenau sailed wide left, one of only five errors in 56 total attacks for the University of Cincinnati recruit who led both teams in accuracy with .393 hitting. Vorherr ended an intense volley with a kill from left side to midcourt and another long volley ended with Vorherr scoring off a Cougar blocking error. But MND came right back on a shot off the block by Meyer, who then teamed with Wilken for a big block on Vorherr. That left the teams knotted at 9. Harpenau once again intervened with a termination down the left, and Meyer retied it. O’Conner kept Mercy a step in front with a knock down kill. Vorherr came up with two big digs, one on a smash by Adams and the other off a Cougar block, and Harpenau finally ended the volley with a shot that skipped off a Cougar block and sliced off a dig out of bounds. And when libero Kayla McWilliams served up an ace to put the Bobcats on top 13-10, MND called a timeout. The Cougars followed that with a long spike, which put Mercy on the brink. Adams kept Mt. Notre Dame alive with a line drive kill. But she wasn’t expecting the encore performance put on by James, who reenacted the end of game four with another surprise dump. When it landed in Adams’ arms, the match was over. Three of Mercy’s twelve seniors spoke afterward about what was different from last year, when Mercy was also ranked number one but fell to the third rated Cougars 16-25, 22-25, 25-14, 15-25. It boiled down to more intensity. O’Conner explained “This year we wanted it a lot more; we realized it was our last chance”. James added “We came into it with all heart”. Harpenau said that a pre-game pep talk by Rose Eppensteiner, a senior who saw limited action, got them pumped up for the battle that lay ahead. Eppensteiner’s final words were “We’re all seniors. We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got”. Harpenau added “We knew that was true”. ********************************************************************************* Notes: Last summer Missy Harpenau paced the Team Z 17-Orange to the National Open title in Minneapolis, and was named Most Valuable Player in the National Open 17’s. Rachael Adams and Abbie Rees were also members of the Team Z 17-Orange. Adams was named to the All-Tournament team, and played for the Junior National Team in Mexico. Ironically, Adams didn’t plan to play volleyball, according to her coach Donna Mechley. In the eighth grade she attended a camp with a friend. Mechley said “We saw her sitting there and said ‘hey, why don’t you go on the court and try it out?’. She made tryouts and has been with us ever since”. As of the end of the state tournament, Adams had not committed. ********************************************************************************* Stats: Mercy: Kills - Harpenau 27, Vorherr 16, O’Conner 11, Cosker 9, Meyers 6, James 4; Assists - James 58; Aces - James and Michelle McWilliams 2; Digs - Vorherr 22, Harpenau and Kayla McWilliams 20, James 14, Anna Solomon 8; Blocks Assists - Meyers 5, Harpenau 4 Mount Notre Dame: Kills – Adams 24, Otto and Meyer 9, Wilken 6, Strizak 5; Assists – Rohlfs 44; Aces – Tarantino and Adams 2; Digs – Abbie Rees 23, Tarantino and Rohlfs 20; Block Assists – Wilken 5, Adams and Rohlfs 4, Meyer 3
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