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Unranked St. Henry, top ranked Lima Central Catholic advance at Liberty-Benton; T-Birds avoid stunning upset in final November 3, 2008 By Jim Jicha Unranked St. Henry and top ranked Lima Central Catholic advanced to a regional final showdown between two of Ohio’s hottest Division III teams in semifinal action last Thursday at Liberty-Benton High School. And when the smoke cleared on Saturday, Lima Central was headed back for their second straight final four appearance after eking out a 25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 15-11 win over the Redskins who, despite losing 6’2” University of Louisville recruit Brooke Mattingly shortly after the match began, came close to a stunning upset. September 13 marked a milestone for the St. Henry volleyball team. On that day their season reached its nadir, in the Kewpee Invitational at Lima Bath, when a first round loss to tenth ranked Orrville 23-25, 22-25 dropped them to 2-10. Last Thursday, following a 26-28, 25-15, 25-17, 25-16 win over seventeenth ranked Huron, they had improved to 16-10. En route to the regional St. Henry had beaten twelfth rated Rockford Parkway in a district semifinal, and they also took down state qualifier Versailles and D-IV ranked Minster during the regular season. In reality, the turnaround isn’t quite as spectacular as it seems. Nine of the ten losses came against ranked opponents, six to regional qualifiers. Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame barely beat them 27-25, 25-22. And you may recall that St. Henry showed up at this regional last year too with a 10-15 record. One of those ten wins was over eventual Division II State Champion Toledo Central Catholic in the Best of Ohio tournament. St. Henry is not the kind of unranked team with a bunch of losses you want to find lurking in your tournament bracket. When asked if earlier in the season she thought her team could get this far, Redskins' Coach Lori Schwieterman responded “Honestly I did. I really thought we had a team this year. We had all the right people, we just had to find the right chemistry and when we found it, we did (get this far)” Speaking of Huron (20-6), they made a great run too despite losing Sara Sage to UCLA and Susie Isphording to Bowling Green. The Tigers repeated as undefeated champions of the Sandusky Bay Conference, and their losses were to Magnificat, Padua Franciscan, Notre Dame Academy, Kenston and Lehman Catholic. They returned to the regional with one senior, setter Kelly Lehrer. Four seniors, 5’10” outside Shelby Buschur, 5'9" outside Chelsea Stammen, Mattingly and libero Janelle Gerlach, would play large roles in St. Henry’s win over Huron. Game one was a battle all the way with Huron on top more often than not. St. Henry scored first on a kill by Stammen, and Huron 5’11” junior outside hitting mainstay Jesse Miedema tied it with a kill. Buschur pounded a point for the Redskins and Lehrer retied with a dump. Huron sophomore lefty Erin O’Reilly tied again at three, and the Tigers added four more on two aces by Miedema and a tip by O’Reilly. Play became briefly sloppy as Huron’s lead grew to 11-5. The Redskins narrowed within three on kills by 5’10” junior Emily Post and Mattingly, but Miedema and sophomore outside Taryn Graham kept them at bay for a while. And when St. Henry got within a point, Miedema served an ace and 5’9” junior Devon Grendow blocked to re-up the lead to 19-15. However, Redskin freshman Katie Hoying tipped, and two aces by Buschur cut the margin back to one. St. Henry miscues helped Huron move out 22-19, but Post started a four point Redskin run to the lead with a kill. The teams exchanged game point leads, with Graham spiking a kill as Huron moved on top 24-23, then junior Kenzie Bruggeman retying with a kill and Mattingly tipping a short set. Taking charge of the situation, Miedema smashed a point down the line and spiked another another right at someone. And after a teammate’s net violation, she blasted a cross-court shot that sliced off a defender’s hand. A hitting error by the Redskins ended the game. The Tigers got on the game two scoreboard first on a tip by sophomore Devon Koenig. But that proved to be their only lead as Stammen block killed and Mattingly blocked a spike from Huron’s back court. Mattingly smashed a short set to make it 4-1, then demolished a shoot and teamed with Buschur on a block to up the margin to 7-2. Trailing 11-4, the Tigers got points from O’Reilly on a block and defensive specialist Hannah Figgins on an ace. But Stammen and Mattingly parried with kills, and soon after Stammen ignited a five point run to 19-8 with two more blocks. St. Henry coasted from there. Game three began in similar fashion, with Koenig scoring first for Huron, and St. Henry taking leads of 5-1 and 9-4 behind hitting from Mattingly, Buschur and Stammen, and blocking by Mattingly. But this time Huron came back behind Miedema and Graham, closing to 9-7, 10-9 and finally tying at 12 on a kill by O’Reilly. Their rally was short lived, however. Post scored on a hit-skip off the net, Gerlach served an ace and Huron compounded the damage with errors. And after a Redskin lift, the roof fell in on the Tigers. Mattingly pounded a kill down the line, Buschur terminated a back set by Rachel Borgerding, and Mattingly and Stammen each added a block and kill. Down 24-13, Huron rallied gamely with Miedema scoring on a kill down the left, and Lehrer and 5’10” freshman Katlyn Sommer blocking for two points. But when a Huron defender overpassed a tip from Mattingly, Buschur tipped the game point into a hole. St. Henry scored first in game four on a block by Mattingly and was never headed, although the Tigers were within striking distance most of the way. Mattingly blocked and spiked the Redskins ahead 7-2, and Buschur and Post upped it to 9-3. Huron scored three, helped by digging from sophomore defender Justine Butler. The Tigers were again within three at 12-9 after a kill by Koenig and an ace from Miedema. But Post slammed a spike that was lifted, and Mattingly blocked and killed, and the lead was back to six at 15-9. Scoring went back and forth to 20-14. Sommer put a big block on Buschur, but Post terminated the next volley and St. Henry raced to 24. Bruggeman ended a long volley with a cross-court shot that was blocked way out to end the match. Schwieterman said her team was nervous the first game, but “once we got into our groove the girls took over, especially Brooke Mattingly stepped up”. She noted that Huron did “a nice job of getting their hands on everything” with their passing and touches, but that later on “when we we able to get that first ball kill, that was very important to us”. ********************************************************************** In the second semifinal match, defending state champion Lima Central Catholic beat back a spunky and determined Heath 23-25, 25-16, 25-11, 25-21. The Thunderbirds’ came into the match 23-1, their only loss to Archbishop Alter (which eliminated top ranked unbeaten Tipp City Tippecanoe on Wednesday, and advanced to the final four on Saturday). And the T-Birds handed Jackson Center (which also advanced to the final four) its only loss in a tri-match at Indian Lake. Heath was 20-3, with two of their defeats coming at the hands of powerful Newark Catholic (yes, they advanced too!). Lima Central was not their normal aggressive selves in game one, and the young Bulldogs, led by junior setter/hitter Megan White and 4’11” senior libero Brittany Waddell, took it to them. Game one started off somewhat sloppy with the teams trading leads and miscues. When Lima outside hitter JoJo Krieg and Heath sophomore outside Kelly Roberts exchanged kills the game was at its fourth tie. Central then jumped ahead 6-4 on a kill by junior middle Danielle Taflinger, and a block from 5’10” junior Andrea Thomas. But their next hit was long, and Heath sophomore middle Kenisha Body ended a long volley with a blast off the slide to retie. The Thunderbirds made another move, this time to 11-7, as Thomas contributed two kills. But the Bulldogs ran off five unanswered points, on kills by White and sophomore outside Jennifer Koski, and an ace by Waddell. Scoring went back and forth to 20-all, with six ties, but Heath maintained the edge. And when Body scored on another slide right and Central obliged with two errors, the Bulldogs were up 23-20. Krieg interrupted with a tip to her left, but White countered with a hit off the net. Taflinger made things interesting with two more kills, the second a quick hit blast off the slide from a great set by Alexis Diglio. But Heath sophomore Jessica Sullivan staunched the mini-rally with a kill down the middle. Central jumped out 3-0 in game two as Krieg terminated an intense first volley and Taflinger block killed on the left. But junior middle hitter Shaunisha Winter got the Bulldogs going with a kill and sophomore outside Kelly Roberts added a cross court smash. Taflinger and Heath senior outside Courtney Kramer exchanged points, and Heath tied at 4-all on a Central miscue. Bulldog hopes for a game one repeat were soon dashed, however. Thunderbird senior Rachel Illig scored two points on a tip and a sinking cross-court liner. And after Winter countered with a kill, the T-Birds jetted out 13-5 on seven unanswered points. Thomas scored on a blast from the middle that was blocked over and out. Diglio then served up the first of two aces, and junior outside Laurel Conrad contributed a block and a kill. Illig added a point and Thomas capped the run with a short set smash that was blocked over and out. White ended the run, but Taflinger and Illig made sure Heath never scored more than two points at a time, and Taflinger eventually ended the game with a quick hit blast. Heath scored first in game three on a kill by Kramer. Taflinger tied with a quick hit to right corner and defensive specialist Taylor White served an ace. Kramer retied it, but Taflinger re-untied it and, following a third tie, she put Lima on top for good as Thomas and Illig added three kills for a 7-3 lead. The teams exchanged points to 9-6, after which Krieg paced a 7-2 run with five service points, including two aces, while defensive specialist Abby Mooney and libero Mary Fisher kept Heath spikes from landing. Illig, Taflinger and Thomas continued the onslaught to 23-11, and after Diglio served an ace, Illig and Roberts teamed up for a game winning block. Lima’s aggressive serving was definitely a factor in keeping Heath out of their system in game three. But that kind of serving has its drawbacks, and Lima Central would commit eight service errors before pulling out a very exciting game four. The T-Birds continued their barrage of game three to start. Krieg smoked a kill down the line, Taflinger demolished another quick set from Diglio, and White served an ace. And when a Bulldog hitting error ended a long volley, the score was 4-0. Kramer put Heath on the board with a shot to mid-court, but Taflinger delivered two more kills to make it 6-1. That’s when the serving problems began, and Body followed the T-Birds’ first miscue by blocking Taflinger. Taflinger countered that with a shot to right corner, but another serve went awry and Roberts added another Bulldog point with a kill. Illig scored for Lima, but a third serving miscue and an ace by Kramer cut the lead to 8-7. Illig scored again, this time with a shot to the back line, but the T-Birds next serve was long, and after Kramer smoked an overpass to knot the score, a T-Bird hitting error put Heath on top. Lima regained the lead 11-10 thanks to Bulldog hitting errors, but Kramer terminated another overpass to retie. Krieg ended a contested volley with a well placed spike. White then served an ace, but her next serve went right of the line. Krieg blasted a set from White off the block for a side out point, but that put her at the line for error number six. In case you’ve lost track, Lima Central is still in front 14-13. Taflinger terminated a Diglio short set, and she followed with a serve that was in. But Heath scored anyway, when Lima went for a fake by Body to the middle which left an open net for Roberts on the left. And when Lima muffed a serve from Bulldog defensive specialist Lisa Shoemaker, the score was knotted again at 15. Thomas put the T-Birds back in front with a quick hit shot to the right, only to see a teammate’s serve blocked by the net. On the next play, a Lima player got herself into the net, and Heath was up again 17-16. With game five looking ever more possible the Bulldogs were now fired up, and Roberts and White dug several T-Bird spikes, before Thomas finally re-knotted the score with a quick set bomb. Body, however, countered with a blast, and Lima’s next attempt hit the pole, putting Heath atop 19-17. At this juncture, Krieg rose to the occasion with three huge points. The first came on a well placed spike that ended a volley prolonged by two great digs from Waddell. She then blocked White who was trying to sneak in a dump, and she encored that with a booming block in the middle. Lima was back on top 20-19. But, alas, their next serve was in the net! That turned out to be, however, their mistake. Taflinger quickly put them back on top by tipping a Diglio short set into a hole to her right. White, who was now at the service line, converted a Heath bomb into a very high pass, and Krieg two-handed a tip into another hole. Taflinger then blasted a short set, and she and Krieg block killed to put the T-Birds on the verge at 24-20. Koski reprieved Heath with a kill, and the Bulldog defensive corps of Waddell, White and Roberts pulled out all the stops on the next volley, on which Kramer finally scored a tip. But when Krieg lofted a soft tip over the defense, the diving dig sliced backward toward the wall, and the match was over. Match Note For Lima Central Catholic, the thirty minute trip up to Liberty-Benton, which is just west of Findlay off I-75, was no big deal. But Heath is on the very eastern edge of Central District, over by Newark, and the Bulldogs trekked almost 120 miles to play this match. As expected, Lima Central brought a large and vocal student section. Heath's cheering section on the other hand consisted of nine students, but what they lacked in numbers they more than made up for in spirit, and they provided enthusiastic vocal support on every play right to the bitter end.
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