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Amherst Steele plays "lights out" defense, stuns Notre Dame Academy with comeback November 1, 2007 By Jim Jicha As Amherst Steele Coach Laurie Cogan bounded toward reporters, the first thing she said was “That was a good match, huh”? Well, actually, it was an indescribably good match. The 25-2 Comets had just rallied from an 0-2 deficit, and from 14-21 in game four, to defeat Toledo Notre Dame Academy 24-26, 15-25, 25-20, 27-25, 15-11 in the Regional semifinal match last night at Norwalk High School. Cogan said she’d never been involved in a comeback that dramatic. This year her team had only been in two five game matches and lost both. The match was everything a fan could want. For one thing it was important. The hitting, digging, passing, blocking and setting were all major league. There were momentum shifts, great plays and mistakes; and, at a critical juncture in pivotal game four, breaks measured in inches fell in favor of Amherst’s rally. The match oozed with drama. Asked how it felt afterward, Amherst senior outside hitter Courtney Jarvis said “it’s indescribable” Then she excitedly bubbled out her thoughts of the rally, “in the fourth game everyone was like, this could be it...we could be out…we wanted to get to Wright State…our defense was lights out”. That summed up the metamorphosis that occurred during a Comet timeout after the Eagles had just scored three straight to cap an 8-3 run that put them up 21-14. “Coach said don’t give up, I’m not giving up on you” and that made her team start “fighting and digging deep” according to Jarvis. “Our slogan was ‘dig deep’”. Cogan noted that she also told the team “We didn’t come here to embarrass ourselves, and if we walk out of this gym and lose 25-14, you are all in trouble”. Whatever the reason, from that moment on the Comets’ defense was lights out, and Notre Dame found it almost impossible to get anything to drop. The match, which lasted over two hours and featured long intense volleys, was pretty evenly played. Notre Dame was helped in game one by an 8-2 surfeit of unforced Comet miscues. Amherst benefited from a favorable 8-2 margin in service errors in game four. Each team controlled one game. If there was an edge, it was Amherst’s momentum in the tiebreaker. And lady luck, which smiled on the Comets when they had their backs to the wall in game four. “They had a chance to finish us off and they didn’t” Cogan said afterward. “After game four I knew they were in trouble because the adrenalin of our kids was incredible”. Amherst was led offensively by the explosive senior outside Jarvis, and freshman jumping jack outside Deme Morales. Notre Dame countered with their big outsides, sophomore Paige Roback and junior Jessie Batanian, and augmented their attack with Amanda Fioritto and Elisa Duran. That gave the Eagles a bit of an offensive edge, but defense wins more often than not, and Amherst’s defense is second to none. Game one was close all the way with several ties and lead changes. After an error, Amherst went up on a Jarvis kill and an ace by defensive specialist Lauren Turner. Roback pounded two kills for a 3-2 lead, and Jarvis delivered two bombs, with setter Lauren Percival adding an ace. That gave Amherst its biggest edge at 5-3. After Notre Dame went up 9-6, Morales scored two kills and a block to put the Comets back in front 10-9. Notre Dame crept ahead 13-11, and to 17-14 after another tie, as Roback, setter Jordan Goad and libero Mackenzie Strall kept Morales and Jarvis at bay, somewhat at least, with digs. But soon after Jarvis alternated spike and tips for three points and Abby Burgdorf and Walter teamed on a block and the Comets went back on top 18-17. Roback blasted a spike right at a defender, Fioritto aced and Goad stuff-blocked the Eagles to a 21-18 lead, which soon became 23-19. But Amherst shot right back with Jarvis and libero Ashley Aponte transitioning Roback missiles into passes, Burgdorf and Bridget Beury blocking and Morales spiking two kills. Percival made a great set of a ball too near the net and Morales tipped to a hole to tie it again. And when Batanian blasted a point down the line for Notre Dame, Morales spiked for kill off an Eagle tip. The score was 24-24. Batanian put Notre Dame atop again, and this time Goad placed a nifty dump into an empty right corner for the game winner That seemed to take the solar wind out of the Comets’ tail as Notre Dame jumped in front in game two on two aces by Goad, and steadily increased their lead to 5-2 and 9-3. They kept that margin, going further ahead 18-10 on kills from back court by Strall, one coming after she passed a Comet smash. Batanian ended the game with a cross court spike. Now Cogan had three minutes to turn things around. She told the kids “We came in here with a dream, and there is no one in Ohio good enough to beat us in three games. We are going to win this third game” Jarvis started things off with two kills the second ending an intense volley which she kept alive with digs. Notre Dame closed to 8-7 behind two kills by Batanian and an ace from Duran. But Morales ended another long volley with a cross court blast as the Comets scored three. An Eagle point later the Comets streaked ahead 18-10 as Sliman served five points, including an ace. The lead grew to 19-10, and was still 22-15 when Eagle middle Mary Delaney spiked a line drive that three Comets digs could not return, and she then blocked Morales. And when the Comets dug the next volley into the line judge, Cogan called time out. That didn’t help as Goad backset to Fioritto who found an empty net on the right side from which to blast a point. Batanian then spiked from the left and that was blocked into the pole. Unfortunately for the Eagles, a player got under the net making what would have been a great dig, and the rally was over. Beury then teamed up with Jarvis first, then Percival for two blocks that made Cogan’s prediction come true. Game four began a bit sloppy, with six of the first eight points coming on errors. Notre Dame used a 7-2 run from there to go up 11-6. Amherst closed to 11-9 and 13-11, but a 5-2 run upped it to 18-13, and after point trading, the Eagles scored three straight on a kill off the slide by Duran, a booming block by Goad and a pinpoint line drive from back court by Roback. The Comets were down 21-14 and on their way out. And in a timeout, Cogan found words to inspire greatness. The defensive effort the Comets turned on at that point had to be seen to be believed. After the timeout, Morales scored three points, the first a tip, then a kill and finally a block on Batanian. Batanian came back with a kill, and after an untimely net serve, Goad eschewed a set and instead blasted a kill to the left corner, making it 23-18. Jarvis was now in front row and she hammered a running jump termination down the left side, and after an Eagle hitting error, she and Brittany Walter teamed up on a block. And now lady luck smiled on the Comets. Notre Dame drilled two spikes, one a termination down the left line, the other a great hit to an empty spot in Amherst’s back court. If both score the match is over, if one scores it’s 24-22 Eagles. Both landed barely but harmlessly out of bounds. Notre Dame did score on their next spike, but Jarvis retied it on a kill to backcourt to end what had to be two minutes of frantic and intense volleying. Roback scored on a blast that was eaten by a defender, but Jarvis tied it again with a tip into a hole. Jarvis now went to the line, and put up what looked to be a long serve. But when the ball dropped it touched the back line. The final volley was intense and Walter finally ended it, and the game, with a two handed pop into a hole. Now came the tiebreaker. Jarvis said afterward their attitude in the team huddle was “let’s jump out and get a lead, let’s get momentum, let’s score points and not fall behind”. They knew the game would go quickly. As it was, Fioritto scored first with a spike that was blocked over and out. Jarvis tied it with a cross court blast, and Fioritto and Jarvis traded two terminations. But a long Eagle hit gave Amherst the lead and they seized the opportunity. With Percival serving, Walter and Abby Burgdorf blocked for a point, and Comet middle Olivia Sliman made an incredible dig that was followed by an Eagle error. Roback dug a spike from Jarvis, but a second missive by Jarvis found its mark to put Amherst up 6-2. Notre Dame closed to 6-4, 8-7 and 9-8. But Morales scored a kill off the block, and teamed with Beury for a block. Beury came up with another block that the Eagles dug into the net to make the score 13-8. Defensive specialist Angie Pellittieri served the run. The Eagles scored three of the next four, but Jarvis was in front row and was not going to be denied. On the next volley she cannon balled a shot that was blocked over but out, sending the Amherst players and fans into a frenzy. Of her players, Cogan said afterward “These kids hung together and did everything I asked them to do. Words cannot express how I feel about these kids now”. Noting how unstoppable Jarvis was in game five she said it was as if Jarvis had “strapped the team on her back and said 'hang on'”. But Jarvis is both a team player and a coach herself. At one point she took Morales aside and told the freshman to take a deep breath and not to worry, she could jump over all of them”. Cogan said of Morales “she had her ups and downs, but she was there when we needed her. Amherst advances to Saturday afternoon’s regional final against Magnificat. Ironically, the two teams met in the season opener on August 25 at Magnificat. The Blue Streaks eked past the Comets 15-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-10, 16-14 in that one.
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