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Balanced Gilmour Academy squad stops Independence in straight sets

October 11, 2008

By Jim Jicha

In a rematch of last year's northeast Division III regional final, Gilmour Academy defeated Independence Thursday evening 25-20, 25-18, 25-14. The Lancers’ balanced performance was best exemplified by the stellar play of senior outside hitter Maddie Mawby, who registered nine kills, nine service points, four aces and ten digs. Senior outside Raysa Sylvester led the defense with 14 digs, while senior Kelsey Rodgers contributed 24 assists.

The Lancers jumped out to game one leads of 6-2, 9-3 and 15-5, helped by eight Independence miscues. But they had to stop a long and concerted rally to win the set.

Gilmour senior outside Jess Hammer culminated a five point run to 15-5 with two aces, but at that point Blue Devil sophomore outside Natalie Letostak scored on a quick hit. The Blue Devils added three more with outside/setter Alexa DeFranco tipping, and 6’0” junior Sarah Budzowski blocking Lancer middle hitter Mary Kramer.

Kramer, however, came right back with a kill off the block, and then faked to give Mawby an open net for a cross-court blast. When Kramer blocked an attempted spike from backcourt, the Lancers were ahead 18-9 and nothing seemed amiss.

DeFranco, however, scored on a cross-court spike, commencing another four point Independence run to which Budzowski contributed a kill and tip. The fourth volley was highly contested, kept alive by notable saves from Letostak and Sylvester.

Gilmour countered again with two points, after which Blue Devil junior outside Stephanie Rizzardi spiked a kill and DeFranco served two aces to pace another four point spurt that left the score 20-17.

Mawby interjected with a termination, but Budzowski countered by pounding a DeFranco backset into oblivion. On the next volley, digs by Letostak paid off when the Lancers eventually committed a net infraction, and a tip by Rizzardi left Gilmour clinging to a 21-20 lead.

At that point, Coach Jeff Grzybowski called for a timeout and basically told his players “all we need is to serve receive to target”. A pinpoint pass was forthcoming, and Mawby dispatched the ensuing set into an empty space. Sylvester followed with a smash that was partially blocked. Somehow, senior Blue Devil co-captain Sienna Tomko popped the plummeting-to-the-floor ricochet high into the air but, alas, the ball fell in the midst of Blue Devil defenders.

Gilmour was now more comfortably ahead 23-20, and after a long Blue Devil hit, Hammer and outside Brittany Shirk teamed up on a game point block.

Gilmour raced in front again in set two 2-0 and 7-1. Two kills by Maddie Kosar upped the lead to 10-3 and two more from Sylvester made it 12-4. Tomko intervened with a termination, but Mawby and Kramer led a four point run that culminated with Kramer blocking an attempted dump.

Tomko scored again, this time on a tip, and Letostak spiked a kill, but Mawby countered with three kills and Kramer added an ace, and when Lancer outside Meg Kramer popped a low set into a hole, the lead had burgeoned to 21-7.

Independence outscored Gilmour 11-4 from there, led by Letostak who scored an ace, a kill from back court and a block kill, but timely points by setter/outside Brittany Link and Kosar forestalled any serious comeback.

Budzowski began the scoring for Independence in game three, but the Blue Devils were undone by five mistakes that left Gilmour atop 6-3. A kill by Hammer made it 7-4, and after a long Independence hit, Mawby served three consecutive aces into the same spot. Following a timeout, she narrowly missed trying for the right line and served out of bounds instead, but Gilmour kept upping their margin to 16-6 and 22-10. Hammer scored the match winner with a kill that sliced off the block and out of bounds.

Gilmour is now 19-0 and ranked second in the state despite having no one over 5'9". But they have oodles of talent, and Coach Grzybowski noted that “balance is certainly one of our strengths”. He added “We’re all very good players, so you can’t key on anyone… our servers can hit their spots… and whenever we get a free ball we’re going to be hitting at somebody”.

It was that kind of balance that carried Gilmour over West Salem Northwestern and outside hitter Kara Koch’s 37 kills in last year’s regional semifinal.

The Lancers will wrap up their season today at the Stow Invitational. They are seeded third behind Mentor and Lake Catholic, and open up against Wooster. 

Nineteenth rated Independence finishes the regular season at 17-5.