Ohiohsvb.com News About Ohio High School Volleyball |
|
|
Padua Franciscan ends seventeen year northeast Ohio drought with state championship win over Archbishop Alter November 13, 2008 By Jim Jicha Parma Padua Franciscan ended a seventeen year drought for northeastern Ohio volleyball last Saturday with a hard fought 25-22, 26-24, 17-25, 25-21 win over Kettering Archbishop Alter. The match lasted an hour and forty-four minutes with many long and exciting volleys. Padua becomes the first Division II state champion from the northeast since Akron Archbishop Hoban in 1992, and the second ever from Cuyahoga County. Class AA Fairview Park Fairview took titles in 1985 and 1988. This was a state championship of other firsts as well. It also Padua’s first appearance at state, not just in volleyball, but in any girls’ team sport. It was also the first time in four final four appearances that Alter did not win – the Knights defeated Walsh Jesuit in 2006, and also took titles in 2002 and 2003. Padua was one of the favorites to go the distance this year. With a young team, they had given Salem a struggle in last season’s regional final. But the Bruins dropped conference matches to Lake Catholic and Parma Heights Holy Name, two teams from their tough region that also included Walsh Jesuit, Salem, Hubbard and Beaumont, among others. Padua came on strong at tourney time, however, and downed Walsh Jesuit in a four-game regional semifinal and then trounced Lake Catholic in the final. For Alter, getting to state meant avenging two losses to top ranked unbeaten Tippecanoe, one from last year’s regional semifinal, the other a five gamer in this season’s opener for both. The Knights upended Tippecanoe in a four game regional semifinal. The
Bruins were led in the final by 6’0” junior outside hitting sensation Kaitlyn
Leary who pounded 23 kills with an attack percentage of .310, and also
contributed 13 digs. But Leary is their mainstay, and while Alter Coach Tina
Jasinowski acknowledged that “she looked more dominating than against Mansfield
Madison”, she said “other kids came on and did damage”. Fritsche contributed 13 kills and led in attack percent with .400. She, Brittany Morris and Becky Jay combined for 14 block assists. That helped minimize Alter’s advantage at the net, where 5’11” senior middle blocker Kelly Wolff and 6’1” freshman setter Megan Courtney led both teams with a combined 16 block assists. Bruin Setter Meghan Cugliari had a big day with 48 assists and 13 digs. Padua was aware that blocking and digging would be big factors in the match, and that first hits weren’t going to land often even when they got through. Morris said “We knew we had to play great defense and cover our hitters. They’re a huge blocking team and we had to keep putting pressure and pressure on them, and we couldn’t let down". Leary added “We took it point by point, we kept telling ourselves push more, push more, push to the end, push to our goal”. The first two games were close all the way, and with a combined 26 ties and 15 lead changes, either one could have gone either way. Momentum was impossible to establish and the biggest margins were three in the first set and two in the second. Setter Meghan Cugliari said going up 2-0 “was huge”. She added, “We knew after that we could finish the match and win state”. Alter jumped out 3-0 in game one as 5’11” senior middle Analysse Schmitt pounded a kill down the line, and Wolff, Courtney and Schmitt triple blocked. Padua took advantage of a service error by scoring three more as defensive specialist Abby Kornowski served two aces. Schmitt retied with a kill, and a block by Wolff in the middle put the Knights atop 6-4. But Padua knotted it on kills by senior outside Jaklyn Veres and Leary, and the teams traded scores with four more ties to 10-all. Padua spurted ahead 13-10 on a kill by Veres and two double block kills from Fritsche and Morris. But Alter countered with two tallies, and after a kill by Morris, the Knights added four more on a dump by Courtney, an ace from Schmitt. A big dig from junior Kristin Ignozzi, one of her team high eleven, prevented a certain Bruin score. That gave Alter the lead 16-14. Leary countered with backcourt blast to an empty right corner and a booming block in the middle. And soon after, Padua was off on a four point run and a 20-17 lead, paced by passing from Kornowski and libero Lauren Goebel. After a timeout, Alter struck right back with four points, the third an ace by Courtney who, after a Padua timeout, encored with a dump. But Leary staunched that rally with a kill, and Courtney and Jay saved partial blocks to extend the next volley, which ended when the Knights hit into the net. And when Leary two handed an Alter overpass into a hole, the Bruins were up 23-21. The next volley was intense, and Schmitt kept her team’s hopes alive with a back court blast. But the Knights’ next hit sailed long. And after a great save by Jay, Leary went to her right for a big block that ended the game. Padua won despite making five service errors to Alter’s one. Messina said afterward “We were a little tight, we made some mistakes and we missed some serves, and being able to still win game one was pretty big for us”. Game two was even more contested with 14 ties, eight lead changes, no run longer than three and no lead bigger than two. Morris started the scoring with a tip that ended a long volley. But Alter moved atop 4-2 on three Bruin errors and a dump by Courtney, and the teams began trading points. Alter won one big volley on which senior outside Monica Lachey and sophomore Kelly Westerkamp rejected two spikes, Westerkamp dug another one, and Courtney finally ended matters with a dump. But Leary terminated the next volley, and the back and forth continued to 8-6. Padua tied the score on a kill down the right by Fritsche, and an ace from Jay. The Knights countered with two as Courtney and Wolff double blocked, and Westerkamp aced. But Jay slammed a point right at someone, and Alter obliged with two errors, giving the Bruins an 11-10 edge. Padua then took its first two point lead, but Westerkamp countered with a kill and two Bruin miscues put the Knights back on top 14-13. The teams exchanged one point leads with a tip by Lachey leaving Alter on top 17-16. But Fritsche slammed a kill down the right and followed with a block kill on Schmitt, and Veres scored on a dig of a Schmitt blast that cleared the net. A kill down the line by Veres, after a net serve, left Padua back in front 20-18. But Schmitt answered with hit a blast in the middle that was blocked over but out, and Courtney and Wolff blocked to tie. An attack error gave the edge back to Alter, and Padua called time. That worked as Goebel made a great save and Padua outlasted Alter in a volley ended by an error. Kornowski followed with an ace, and Alter obliged with another miscue. But Padua repaid in kind after Knights’ libero Kelsey Buehrle had prevented a back court shot by Leary from landing. Another attack error by the Bruins left things knotted at 23. Cugliari gave Padua its first game point with a dump, but a net serve erased that advantage. Leary scored on a smash from the left that was blocked over and out. On the next volley, both teams dug near terminations before Leary powered a shot cross-court from the left that was dug over the media table and into the crowd, ending the set. Fritsche led off game three by tipping an overpass, as the teams traded the lead three times and tied seven times to 8-all. Then, helped by blocking from Wolff and Courtney and three Bruin attack errors, Alter grabbed the lead for good at 11-8. They upped the margin to 16-10 with Westerkamp spiking two kills and Buehrle dishing up a pair of aces. Padua closed the gap to 20-16. But after a kill by Schmitt ended an intense volley, the Bruins committed three mistakes, and soon after, Schmitt terminated the game with a blast from the left. Padua led most of game four, but their biggest margin was 20-15 and Alter was always within striking distance. Courtney led off for Alter with a dump, and blocked for a 2-1 lead. But on the next play, Goebel passed an Alter smash to Cugliari, who short set Morris who pounded into an empty back middle. Leary followed with a demolition down the left and Veres served an ace. Lachey parried with a tip and the teams traded points, until a cross-court ace by Cugliari upped the lead to 7-4. Trailing 9-5, the Knights roared back to tie on a 5-1 run sparked by an ace from Ignozzi and fueled by two Courtney digs. Digs by Goebel helped Padua score on the next two volleys, but Alter knotted it again. Padua scored the next two, and after a cross-court kill by Westerkamp the Bruins’ lead was 14-13. Leary upped the ante with a blast down the left, and followed with a cross-court shot that ricocheted off a defender. And after Westerkamp and Lachey double blocked her for a kill, she countered with a blast that was dug into the crowd. Then she hit a spike down the left that was first called out but then ruled in. That put the Bruins ahead 18-14. Lachey got Alter back on the board, but Leary countered with a kill off a slide and served up an ace. With Padua now up 20-15, and time running out, Alter rallied as Wolff teamed with 6’1” Kellie Joseph and Courtney on two block kills. Padua called timeout, and Fritsche responded with a kill, but attack errors by the Bruins left them nursing a 21-19 lead. Fritsche again came to the rescue with a kill, and Morris drilled a smash that was dug over and out. Westerkamp kept Alter alive at 23-20, but an untimely net serve left them in a match point hole, and to make things worse brought Leary to the front row. Westerkamp staved off one match point with another kill. The inevitable came on the next volley, however, when Leary delivered a bomb from the left that was blocked across the media table. Leary was asked afterward if she wanted the ball at that juncture. She said “ Yeah I wanted the ball, I wanted to finish every point”. Padua was well aware the 24-20 lead was not safe, as Cugliari explained afterward, “We knew Alter was a great team. We watched them play on Thursday and they came back with six points when the other team had 24, they won that game, so we knew that they weren’t going to just lay down and die, that they were going to fight as hard as they could…we knew that the game wasn’t over at 24 points”. She was referring to Alter’s rally in game four against Bishop Hartley in the semifinal. Cugliari also had this to say about losing game three “I think it made us work harder…we had to step it up more”. Asked if they had an appreciation for what they had accomplished, Cugliari said “Oh my gosh, I can’t even explain it. Just bringing a state championship back to our school feels amazing. We’re so proud of ourselves, our team our coaches. We’re the first girls’ team at Padua to ever make it to state.” She admitted that winning state hadn’t fully sunken in. “I’m sure it will on the bus ride home. It’s still unbelievable that we’re even here”.
Match Notes 1) Winning the state championship culminates a long and successful run as teammates for seniors Meghan Cugliari and Brittany Morris. The two played together on a North Royalton eighth grade CYO team that went 25-0 and won the City Championship. Nodding toward Messina, Cugliari added, “And he was the coach”. Messina likened winning the CYO to winning the State Championship. 2) When asked about the pressure of playing Alter in the state final the players said “All of us have played in huge games before, since grade school, and we just know how to handle the pressure. We focused and concentrated on every single point. We didn’t look ahead, we concentrated on one point. We tried not to let the score get to us, if we were down by two, up by two or tied, we tried not to look at the score. We just wanted to play volleyball, play our game, and we knew we could take care of it then". 3) When asked if Padua’s win was an upset, Cugliari said “I don’t think so”. Coach Messina said that if you look at the records, and projections and predictions, Padua may have been favored to win. But he noted that after watching Alter beat Hartley he thought it was pretty even going in. He added “I’m proud of the girls for being able to take care of that floor. That’s a great program with a great coach and a great tradition. They looked like they were pretty comfortable, so we had a lot of work cut out for us.” 4) One reason for that question may be that Division II has been dominated by the Greater Girls Cincinnati League since 1993 when Cincinnati St. Ursula won the first of six straight titles. That streak coincided with the run of great teams from Tallmadge, and the Blue Devils fell to St. Ursula five straight years, four times in the final. When the Bulldogs moved up to D-I, Roger Bacon took over the southwest, and northwest Ohio won twice as Galion out-dueled the Spartans in two exciting championship matches. But Roger Bacon turned the tables on Galion the next year, as they and Alter ran off with seven consecutive D-II titles. In 2007, Roger Bacon moved to D-III and Tipp City Tippecanoe ousted Alter at the regional, and for the first time in 16 years there wasn’t a GGCL team at the final four. Toledo Central Catholic won the title over Bishop Hartley, after coming back from a 0-2 deficit in a marathon semifinal over Salem.
|
|
Copyright © 2002-2012 [ohiohsvb.com]. All rights reserved. |