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Lima Central Catholic wins championship in first appearance at state November 19, 2007 By Jim Jicha “When I was a junior in high school, if someone had told me that one day I’d be coaching girls’ volleyball, I’d have told them they were crazy”. Twenty-four year old Lima Central Catholic Coach Dave Franklin made that comment last week minutes after he’d coached the T-Birds to a Division III state championship. Tenth ranked Central defeated 16th rated Albany Alexander 25-27, 25-17, 25-15, 25-20 to win out in their first trip to state. Alexander had been there once prior, falling to Anna in last year’s four game semifinal. Franklin credited his team’s blocking which “got Alexander out of their offense and gave us a lot of roll shots”. He added “Our serving was tough too”. The T-Birds’ title run was amazing. After a 1-2 start with losses to Ottawa-Glandorf and Marion Local, they ran the table to 27-2. Their road to the title match went through the Findlay Region, lair of the top ranked Huron Tigers. In practice that week, Franklin and Assistant Coach Kevin Kitchen slammed spikes at the girls to simulate the hitting of UCLA bound Sara Sage and Bowling Green recruit Susie Isphording. Central toppled Huron 27-25, 25-19, 10-25, 25-21. In the state semifinal the T-Birds ran into my PrepVolleyball preview pick, St. Bernard Roger Bacon. The Spartans’ stellar defense had taken care of third rated Heath and second ranked Versailles in their regional. But they could not stop outside hitters JoJo Krieg or Rachel Illig, and they were out blocked by an opponent whose tallest player is 5’10”. Central prevailed 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23. It’s also amazing how Coach Franklin arrived at Central Catholic. After graduating three years ago from the University of Findlay, he was a substitute teacher looking for a job. Having played volleyball for Findlay, and Kettering Fairmont before that, he became involved with the Findlay Volleyball Club and got an assistant coaching position at Findlay High School. But Findlay had no openings for science teachers, and he was forced to relinquish the coaching job after a teacher applied for it. It so happened Lima Central Catholic was looking for a science teacher and a head volleyball coach. Franklin seized the opportunity. When he arrived he was told “this program has talent, do what you need to do to win”. He started by getting the kids involved with the Findlay club ball program. He also instilled discipline into the program, and according to Krieg, a winning attitude. “We never thought about getting this far, but he made us believe we could be state champions”. Of course, Alexander also had an idea they could win state too, having played flawlessly in a three game romp over Frankfort Adena in their regional semifinal and fended off a comeback by Gates Mills Gilmour in the semifinal 25-18, 25-21, 18-25, 24-26, 16-14. And, indeed, they never trailed in led game one, and prevailed despite a T-Bird rally. But in the end, Central’s blocking – they led in team blocks 12-5 and overall 23-8 – and JoJo Krieg, who spiked a match high 18 kills, were too much for the Spartans. Game one was close all the way and tied five times. Allie Sayers started the scoring, and Betsy Irwin spiked two kills for a 4-1 lead. Junior outside Whitney Smith and freshman Julie Els added kills, and setter Lauren Raines dumped for a point leaving the score 10-8. Central tied at 10, but Alexander pushed right back in front. Spartan libero Lauren Thomas (both teams have players by that name) kept a volley alive with a rollover dig that resulted in a point when Central spiked out of bounds, and middle hitter Megan McCoy blocked Central middle Kacy Querry to give Alexander its biggest edge at 20-15. Central fought back as sophomore outside Danielle Taflinger spiked two Alexis Diglio short sets into empty areas and Krieg served an ace, and they tied at 23 on a block by Taflinger and Diglio. The teams traded points to 25, with Raines scoring a dump and McCoy demolishing a short set from Raines, and Krieg spiking tying kills each time. But a serving error put Alexander back on top and a T-Bird hit into the antenna ended a long volley and the game. Continued their late game momentum, the T-Birds grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second frame. Taflinger said afterward “We knew we could fight back from that loss”. Franklin had reminded the team in the huddle that they’d been blasted once by Huron 25-10, and had rebounded from a loss to Roger Bacon, and this was no different. Irwin spiked two points for Alexander to make it 3-2, and the teams traded points. But Central outside hitter Rachel Illig lofted a tip into a hole by the net, Thomas served an ace and Taflinger and Krieg scored kills as Central took leads of 7-3, 11-4, 14-6 and 18-8. Thomas scored game point on a cross court shot. Alexander nabbed a quick 2-0 game three lead on T-Bird miscues, but Krieg ended that with a kill and followed with three jump serve aces as Thomas added a kill. Irwin ended that spurt with a too-hot-to-handle shot right at a T-Bird defender, but Illig parried with a kill and after some Spartan errors, Central was soon up 10-3. Alexander closed to 16-11 but five T-Bird attackers scored to up the margin to 22-13. Game four was a see saw with five lead changes and eight ties. And for a time it appeared a tiebreaker might be in the offing. The Spartans scored first on a tip by Sayers after rejecting a Krieg spike. Central retorted with three points on kills by Krieg and Illig and an ace from Smith. Alexander regained the lead at 6-5 and, after two ties, they edged ahead 9-7 on kills by McCoy and Els. The teams traded points with Taflinger blocking McCoy and Smith scoring on a cross court spike. Raines broke a 10-10 tie with a two hander to the left corner and a dump. Central retied at 13 and 14. Then Alexander made a move. Raines scored consecutive dumps, and on the next volley, Spartan defender Sarah Radekin dug a block by Central and McCoy blocked Taflinger for a point. Smith drilled a spike to an empty backcourt to put the Spartans on top 18-14. Taflinger and Krieg blasted two spikes for Central that ended intense volleys, but a kill by Smith left the Spartans atop 19-16. Alexander’s hopes for a fifth game would not materialize, however. Taflinger terminated the next volley with a cross court bomb. Ashley Mooney served an ace and Krieg delivered a cross court spike that was dug way out. That brought Central’s large crowd to life. When Krieg terminated the next volley, and she and Querry blocked McCoy, the roar became deafening. A timeout by Alexander didn’t help as the Spartans yielded two more points on errors. Smith scored on a kill off the block to temporarily end the run, but on the next volley Querry and Diglio rejected a Spartan spike and that led to point 24 when Alexander’s next spike went into the net. And when Krieg delivered a smash down the left that sliced off a defender’s hand, the T-Birds were state champs. It was, outside of golf, the school’s first team sport state title. ****************************************************************************** Krieg led both teams with 18 kills, and seven aces. Taflinger and Illig chipped in with 13 and 10 kills for Central, while Diglio put up 43 assists. Four T-Birds were in double figures for digs, Diglio with 15, followed by Abby Mooney with 12 and Crow and Krieg at 11 apiece. Central scored 12 points on blocks, led by Taflinger, Querry, Krieg and Diglio. Irwin topped the scoring for Alexander with 11 kills, Smith added eight and Raines, McCoy, Els and Sayers combined for 20 more. Smith was tops in digs with 24, followed by Thomas with 22 and Raines with 13. Raines had 30 assists. ***************************************************************************** We could see these teams again next year. Central starts four juniors and a sophomore, Alexander four juniors and a freshman.
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