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Lima Central Catholic returns to regional with 22^nd win in a row

October 30, 2007

By Jim Jicha

Lima Central Catholic notched their 22^nd win in a row in last Saturday’s district final at Perrysburg High School with a straight set 25-23, 25-16, 25-21 decision over Oregon Cardinal Stritch (22-3).  The 23-2 Thunderbirds, who lost to Huron in the regional final last year, advance to the Liberty-Benton regional to play Central District winner Hebron Lakewood.

Although they won in straight sets, Central trailed by respective margins of 14-9, 13-9 and 11-7 in each of the games. Cardinal Stritch did a great job keeping volleys alive, and that resulted in more T-Bird miscues than normal according to Assistant Coach Kevin Kitchen who called the Cardinals “the best defensive team we’ve played all year”. He pointed out that it’s hard not to make mistakes when you have to keep putting the ball over.

In fact, both teams put forth solid defensive efforts that resulted in many “defensive points”.

Stritch scored six to start, the first of many runs that occurred throughout the match. Setter Nichole Plasencio served, with right side Julie Long scoring twice on a well placed tip and a block. Plasencio added a two handed dig into an empty spot, along with an ace.

The T-Birds roared back on a kill by outside hitter Rachel Illig, who then served up five including a line drive ace down the left. Stritch went back atop 10-6 on three T-Bird errors and an ace by Lindsey Ueberroth. From there scoring went back and forth to 14-10.

At that point Central defensive specialist Ashley Mooney served up seven straight points, including an ace, as setter Alexis Diglio blocked for two points and added a kill.

After Stritch retied at 17 on kills by Ueberroth, Central moved ahead 21-18 on a short set spike by junior middle Kacy Querry and a kill and block from junior outside JoJo Krieg.

Cardinal sophomore Alex Blazevich tipped for a point and the teams traded scores to 24-21.

The Cardinals closed to 24-23 on a double touch by Central and a kill by Ueberroth, but

Krieg nailed the game winner with a cross court blast into an empty corner.

Central took a 4-1 lead in game two with Querry spiking two points and teaming with Illig on a block.

But Stritch rallied for nine straight when libero Holly Wieczorek dug a Central blast and the T-Birds obliged with an error. Blazevich served four aces, junior Jessica Turner-Smith spiked for two scores and Katie Gullett added a kill.

The T-Birds then rallied ahead 14-13 on five straight points, three of them aces by defensive specialist Mary Fisher, and increased the lead to 17-14. And after Stritch scored two more points, the T-Birds roared to the finish line with an eight point run served by Diglio, led by kills from Querry and Krieg.

The final point came on a long Cardinal hit that occurred after Diglio returned a Cardinal block with a reaction pop over the net.

Not discouraged by the T-Bird rallies, Stritch came out firing in game three, scoring the first six points on two aces by Plasencio, a kill by Long, and three Central errors on extended volleys.

Central, however, closed to 8-6 on a four point run, and tied at 11 on another four point streak. A block by Krieg gave the T-Birds their first lead at 13-12, but three straight errors by Central left Stritch again on top at 16-15.

Illig then slammed two cross court kills to put Central up for good at 17-16, and she followed three Cardinal miscues with a kill off the block to make the score 22-17.

Down 23-18, the Cardinals rallied for three as Turner-Smith and Elizabeth Robb spiked points and defensive specialist Brianne Gasser came up with a save that paid off when the T-Birds hit wide to the left.

But Krieg stanched the rally with a termination down the left that was dug out. Diglio then converted a teammate’s too close to the net pass into a dump that went over the defenders into an empty spot for match point.

Lima Central faces Hebron Lakewood in the regional semifinal, and they’d better not look past the 19-7 Lancers, who knocked off ninth ranked Centerburg. Lakewood's record is misleading – their Mid-State League is also home to Heath, Bexley and Newark Catholic, all of whom play in regionals this week.