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Marion Local repeats as state champion with young new team November 21, 2008 By Jim Jicha Marion Local captured its second consecutive state championship with a 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-14 win over Jackson Center. The Flyers, which avenged an earlier 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 18-25, 12-15 loss to Jackson Center, were a very different team than the one in 2007 that with nine seniors, including four hitters ranging from 6’1” to 6’4”, overwhelmed their opponents with power hitting and blocking. This year’s edition started one junior, four sophomores, one freshman and senior libero Jessica Schwieterman. And with no one over 5’11”, their focus was on quickness and defense. “Our journey was definitely different this year” said Flyer Coach Amy Steininger. “Last year we had a lot of seniors and we thought we had a good chance of going far in the tournament. Coming in this year we knew we had a young team, but we started off strong and our lineup was clicking”. Disaster struck on September 20 in game two of their match with Jackson Center when their number two hitter, sophomore outside Kelly Schlarman, was lost for the season to an ACL injury. The Flyers used different lineups in each of the next three games and eventually lost the match. Steininger said that loss really hurt. “I remember the girls crying in the locker room and I said ‘The next time we play these guys would be in the state championship’. Back then that seemed eons away and the girls were thinking ‘Can we really do that?’” Five days later the Flyers suffered their first conference loss to Versailles. Steinger continued “That was a tough time for us, but we said we’re not going to let this get us down, we still have a good team even though we lost a great player. And we got that chemistry back and we got it done". She added, “I’m just so proud of the girls”. Marion Local’s starting lineup did include two key holdovers from 2007, 5’0” junior setter Shelby Moeller, and 5’9” sophomore all-Ohio outside hitter Alyssa Winner. One of the top sophomores in Ohio in all divisions, Winner paced the Flyers in the final with 29 kills. She said afterward “I knew I had to play a good game tonight. I just swung away, no regrets”. Winner had 28 kills in the semifinal against Newark Catholic, although she did regret 12 hitting errors in that match. Steininger noted that Winner is “a perfectionist”. She added, “But her play in the tournament was nothing short of fantastic. She had 20 or more kills in each of our seven tournament matches. She can do it all”. Winner was on target against Jackson Center with only five errors ands a .273 attack percent. She also contributed 19 digs, one solo block and two block assists. Game one went back and forth with seven ties and four lead changes. Ware blasted a cross-court spike to start the scoring for Jackson Center, and 5’11” freshman middle Margaret Wuebker teamed with Winner for a tying block. Defensive specialist Kaylee Schaefer aced the Flyers in front, but Ware countered with two more kills, the second of which was dug into the crowd, to put the Tigers up 4-2. Marion Local moved back on top 6-4 behind kills from Winner and Casey Heitkamp, and a double block kill by Ashley Lochtefeld and Heitkamp. The Tigers retied on tips by Ware and Gates. After a tip from Winner, Gates scored on a two-handed tip into a hole and a long volley ending blast down the right. And when setter/outside Bethany Hoehne added an ace and a Flyer hit went into the net, the Tigers led 12-8. They would not trail again in game one. After errors by both sides the Tigers extended the edge to 16-10 on a spike by 5’10” senior outside Michelle Carmen. But a block by Winner in the middle started a five point Flyer run, as Wuebker clobbered a Moeller quick set and Heitkamp spiked off the block from the right. And after a Tiger timeout, Schaefer served an ace and Winner added another kill that narrowed the lead to 16-15. Jackson Center recouped, however, and moved back on top 21-16, led by kills from Hoehne and Tara Spicer and digs from Ware and Gates. The teams traded points and errors until, with Jackson Center up 23-19, the Flyers rallied to re-knot the score. Rosenbeck started things with a kill and Schaefer spiked from backcourt. Following a timeout, the Tigers erred to end a long volley and Moeller served an ace. Marion Local, however, spiked into the pole on the next volley, and Ware ended the game with a spike that was blocked over and out. Despite
losing, Marion Local had the momentum going into game two, and that’s when
Jackson Center “stopped taking care of that first pass”, according to Tigers’
Coach Kim Metz. The players responded, especially in a game four run when they “picked up a lot of those off speed shots, which was key for us”, according to Steininger. Despite being triple blocked, Ware and Gates scored 23 and 22 kills, respectively. The two also paced the defensive as Gates recorded 26 digs and Ware contributed 23. Game two saw six ties and two lead changes to 6-6. But the Flyers taxied ahead on a six point run fueled by a block from Rosenbeck, kills by Schaefer and Wuebker and a somersault dig by Moeller. Ware helped cut the lead to 13-9 with three kills, and on her next front row stint she added two more as the Tigers closed to 19-16. But Marion Local advanced to game point on a five point run that included two kills from Winner, and she eventually ended a long volley and the game with termination to mid-court. The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 third set lead on spikes by Ware. Marion Local tied on kills by Winner and Heitkamp, but Hoehne put Jackson Center back on top. But Winner retied, and added three more kills to spark a five point run. The Flyers never again trailed, although the Tigers stayed close and there would be three more ties. Scoring went back and forth to 13-8, at which point Ware started a comeback with a block on Heitkamp followed by a cross-court spike. Winner demolished a Hartings short set with a straight down blast, but Gates hammered a kill down the left and blasted two cross-court kills to close the gap to 15-14. Marion added two on a tip by 5’11” junior middle Ashley Lochtefeld and a Tiger hitting error. But Hoehne countered with a kill and Gates block killed, and after a net serve, Jackson Center tied at 18 as Gates added another kill. Rosenbeck and Winner scored go-ahead terminations for the Flyers, but Ware countered each, leaving the score knotted at 20. But Winner persisted with another kill and Jackson Center hit long. And after a timeout, Lochtefeld and Heitkamp teamed up for a block on Ware, and the Tigers obliged with another attack error. With her team down 24-20, Ware postponed the end with a kill off the block and an ace. But when put up a short set, Winner blasted it to an empty right back court, and the Flyers were up 2-1. From a quick glance at the summary stat sheet, game four might appear to have been the most contested of all, as there were ten ties and five lead changes. But all of that happened during the first half of the game, which was knotted eight times to 8-8. Ware scored first with a cross-court shot, and the Tigers held the advantage up to 4-3, with Winner matching them point for point with two kills and a block. Lochtefeld then smoked a Tara Hartings short set and a Tiger hitting error put the Flyers on top. Marion stayed a step ahead, and led 7-6 after a kill by Rosenbeck. Two long volleys followed, kept alive by digs from Hartings and Moeller, respectively. But Ware eventually ended both to put Jackson Center back on top. On the first, Ware jammed a finger and, Jackson Center had to use one of their timeouts. Winner retied for the eighth time with a cross court blast, and 5’11” Marion freshman middle Margaret Wuebker crunched an overpass. And when a Tiger hit sailed out, the Flyers had the game’s first two-point lead at 10-8. But a service error stopped the run and Gates smacked two kills while Ware added an ace. That gave the Tigers their first two-point edge. It would also be their last lead. Winner ended the run with a kill, and retied the game with a termination down the line. On the next volley, Gates kept a shot by Winner from landing, but Lochtefeld found a hole. Hartings followed with an ace to put the Flyers back in front 14-12, and they never looked back. The Flyers’ defense won the next volley, as Jackson Center hit long after Schwieterman somersaulted to save one spike, and Hartings and Casey Heitkamp teamed up to keep another blast in play. Winner followed with two more kills, and Lochtefeld, Winner and Heitkamp rejected multiple spikes before the Tigers hit out again. After Jackson Center finally used their second timeout, Lochtefeld and Heitkamp made matters worse with a double-block kill. Gates finally ended the run at nine with a tip, but the score was now 19-13. And following a ball handling error by the Tigers, Marion closed in on the prize as Rosenbeck hammered a cross court set from Hartings down the left side, Winner dished up an ace and Lochtefeld spiked a point through the block. The Flyers were up by ten 23-13. Gates ended this rally with a kill off a block by Heitkamp, but Heitkamp blocked her next attempt with help from Lochtefeld. And when the Tigers’ next hit sailed long, the Flyers were again state champions. Steininger called the game four run “huge” and added “We had the momentum, the girls were feeling it and the defense was amazing during that stretch”. She noted that players who don’t get a lot of press “are the girls that just dig the ball back there” and she cited Schwieterman, Bergman Schaefer, Rosenbeck, Moeller, Hartings and even Winner, who she said “is a good hitter but is great on defense”. Schwieterman and Winner paced the Flyers with 19 digs apiece, while Hartings and Bergman added 11 and 10 respectively. The Flyers also had a big advantage at the net, with 11 team blocks to Jackson Center’s three. Heitkamp and Lochetefeld led with five block assists each, followed by Wuebker with three. Metz thought mistakes worked against the Tigers, especially “key service errors when we had the rotation to really go”. The teams were almost even on kills, with Marion owning a 56-55 edge. But the Tigers made 27 attack errors to only 15 for the Flyers. In the end, however, Metz acknowledged that “Marion Local came at us and Alyssa Winner just nailed the ball”. However, Metz noted that “we made some excellent recoveries of balls that a lot of people would have thought were dead and out”. Nothing is ever certain, but with all that sophomore talent Marion Local could be a team to beat at state for two more years, assuming of course they can get out of the New Bremen sectional. And for those who look forward to their Class of 2011 graduating, there is this sobering thought. Their eighth grade team was undefeated.
**************************************************************** 2) Coach Amy Steininger said that after Schlarman’s injury the coaches told the team other people would need to step up. She added, “Leah Rosenbeck did just that. She took Kelly's position at outside, and 5’10” Casey Heitkamp moved into the right side and was a big block for us. Once we were able to practice and play with the new lineup, we got our confidence back and were successful”. 3) Asked how Marion prepared for this season Alyssa Winner responded, “It all started in the summer. We worked hard on conditioning for a week, we had all those camps with more conditioning, and we played all those MAC teams which helped us out in the state tournament. It’s just been awesome, we played well today”. So it was no wonder that Steininger told the team before the match began to “Have fun out there. You’ve worked hard from the summer to this time, go out there and have a good time”. She added “And they did”. 4) Shelby Moeller said losing the first game wasn’t a problem. She explained “We’ve been down so many times. And we do so many drills at practice where we’re forced to be down and we have to get back up”. 5) Tara Hartings called winning state “the most amazing experience in my entire life”. She added, “We had such a team effort. We put it all together tonight”. 6) Playing in the Midwest Athletic Conference has its plusses and minuses. On the downside, winning the league is tough. Marion Local finished the regular season ranked second in the state, and they were also second in the MAC to fifth rated New Bremen. The Flyers beat New Bremen 26-24, 26-28, 25-5, 23-25, 15-11 in the sectional final. On the other hand, the MAC provides a great preparation for the state tournament. Coach Steininger explained “The MAC was amazing this year. Every team had at least ten wins. And we happened to go five with (last place) Delphos St. John’s the last match of the season. Then, our next two matches in the tourney, we went five with Fort Recovery and New Bremen”. She continued, “The MAC definitely prepared us for this…the level of play is so high…a lot of girls in the MAC play club ball…there’s a lot of tall, powerful girls”.
7) The MAC came close to sending three teams to the Nutter
Center. Versailles advanced from the southwest in Division III, and St. Henry
almost overhauled Lima Central Catholic in thee northwest regional final,
despite losing 6’2” University of Louisville recruit Brooke Mattingly shortly
after the match began. Lima Central Catholic won 25-23, 25-23, 21-22, 18-25,
15-11. |
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