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Delaware Hayes to be reckoned with in Central District September 13, 2004 By Jim Jicha Delaware Hayes has been quietly building their volleyball program over the past couple of years, and Saturday they served notice that they are to be reckoned with in Central District. The Pacers won Hilliard Davidson's Sharon M. Huesman Memorial Tournament, which is quite an accomplishment considering they finished seventh last year and last in 2002. Hayes topped Bishop Hartley 25-21, 19-25, 15-12 in the closely contested final for the title. Game one was a struggle all the way. Hayes went on top 9-6, led by Brittany Steinbrecher, Katie McKee and Taylor Russell. Hartley rallied to a 13-10 lead helped by two aces from Caitlin O'Neil and a kill by sophomore Michelle Mangia. The game went back and forth until Hartley took their last lead 19-18 on an ace by Shannon Keebaugh. Delaware edged ahead and scored the last two on a cross court spike by Russell and an ace by Katy Hayes. Hartley rolled to a 14-4 margin in the next game behind Mangia's two kills and three aces. O'Neil contributed two kills and an ace. Sparked by Russell's serving and McKee's net play Delaware rallied for seven straight points. But the Hawks held them at bay from then on and tied the match at a game apiece. Hartley took a 3-0 in the final on points by Sarah Harmon and O'Neil. But Delaware, led by Steinbrecher, Russell and Jamie Johnson, tied it up. The Pacers took their first lead at 8-7 on a kill by Johnson after a Hayes defender had pancaked a Hartley tip. Delaware increased their lead to 11-7 only to have Hartley tie on a kill by O'Neil and three aces by Keebaugh. But Johnson made two key kills for Delaware and an error by Hartley put the Pacers at match point. O'Neil scored one more kill for the Hawks who were finally undone by a hitting error on a close play at the net. Both teams had won nail biter semifinals. Delaware took Canal Winchester 25-13, 22-25, 16-14 and Hartley nipped Hilliard Darby 22-25, 25-22, 16-14. Delaware had an easy time in the first game of their semifinal. But Canal Winchester roared to life in game two with a seven point rally fueled by the serving of Marie Contosta and the blocking of Allison Black and Sarah Bailey. Delaware reposted with their own seven point rally as Hayes served and Steinbrecher and Russell spiked points. But Helen Marr's ace broke a 21-21 tie in favor of the Indians who won on two kills by Contosta. The second seemed to be headed out, but dropped in as Pacer defenders pulled away. The tiebreaker went back and forth and was tied ten times. The Indians got to match point serve first, but Russell tied it with a kill and, after McKee spiked a point past the block, Russell served an ace for the win. Hartley and Darby were in a close duel all the way. Game one saw many ties and lead exchanges. Darby took the lead for good when, trailing 18-17, Katherine Hueter hit a kill and served three points with 6'0" middle hitter Katie Hamilton scoring two kills and a block. Sophomore Megan Krebs blocked Hamilton to end the run, but the Hawks could only trade serves with the Panthers from there on. Darby won when 6'0" middle Shannon Buck blocked a Hartley tip attempt. In game two Hannah Messards served a six point rally that saw Hartley break to a 14-8 lead. However, Darby cut the margin to 15-14 in short order. Jillian Miller spiked two for Hartley, but Darby stayed close. When the Hawks took a 22-18 lead, Hamilton went on a four point barrage of spikes and well placed tips to retie it. But Harmon came up with two kills for Hartley, and a long Darby hit ended it in the Hawks' favor. The tiebreaker was very tense with nine ties and nobody able to muster a run longer than three. Darby trailed 10-8 when Hamilton scored a tip to start a three point run. Hartley rebounded with kills from O'Neil and Mangia. Darby went back up 13-12 but a spike by Mangia tied it. An inopportune service error by the Hawks put Darby on the cusp, but Mangia hit another spike that was blocked out. This put Miller on the line and she served an ace. The final point came dramatically with Keebaugh getting perfect position on a spike by Shannon to make a nice pass and prevent Darby from tying. The Panthers then tried a tip over the net but a diving O'Neil was there with a pancake and Mangia's next spike crashed to Darby's floor for the match winner point. Canal Winchester was all over Darby in game one for third place as the Indians rolled to a 25-9 win. Jesi Wright scored a kill for the game winner. The Indians took a 5-0 lead in game two, but the Panthers got rolling on kills by Hueter and Kortney Reed to tie it at eight. Three straight kills from Contosta put Canal up 13-9. Darby closed to 13-12, but the Indians got two blocks from Bailey, and the Panthers never got closer than three. Thomas Worthington took fifth place with a 25-16, 25-22 win over Gahanna Lincoln. The Cardinals jumped Gahanna for an 18-6 lead in game one thanks to kills by Joy Peterson, blocks from Justine Reardon and Taya Lichtenberg and three aces by Emily Focht. The game winner came on an ace by Peterson. Game two was deja vu as the the Cardinals took a 19-6 lead. But this time Gahanna came roaring back and cut the lead to 20-13. Peterson scored two points to make it 23-13, but a furious 9-1 run by the Lions made things interesting. The rally was led by Laura Brown, Stephanie Green and Holly Evans. However, a spectacular game winning rally was not in the works, as Lichtenberg came up with a tip for Worthington's match winning point. Hilliard Davidson won the match for seventh over Olentangy 25-8, 25-8 behind the hitting of Katie Butz and Jenn Fekpe. Olentangy was led by 6'0" sophomore Stacey Tighe.
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