Ohiohsvb.com News About Ohio High School Volleyball |
|
|
Norwalk St. Paul tunes up for post season with straight set win over Celina October 16, 2008 By Jim Jicha Norwalk St. Paul tuned up for state tournament action with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 win over visiting Celina last Saturday in a match up of junior laden ranked teams. St. Paul finished fourth in D-IV while Celina closed at #18 in D-II. The match saw many contested volleys prolonged by tenacious defense on both sides, along with less than the usual number of unforced mistakes. Celina was perfect at the line, while the Flyers, despite a preponderance of jump servers, missed on only four deliveries. St. Paul’s jump servers kept the Bulldogs somewhat out of their system, and may have also contributed to judgment errors by Celina receivers on a few serves that appeared to be long and dropped just inside or on the line. St. Paul's strong serving was par for the course according to Coach Nancy Miller who said "we've worked hard on our serve attack all year". The home team got things rolling in game one on cross court kills by 5'9" middle Amber Welfle and outside hitter Emily Nickoli. Senior outside/defensive specialist Kelsey Waterman put the Bulldogs on the board when her save of a blast went into St. Paul territory and was dug out of bounds. Welfle retorted with a line drive kill and, following a net serve, she spiked another kill and blocked for a 5-2 lead. But Celina middle hitter Cenzie Yoder tipped twice and blocked to knot the score. After the teams traded kills, sophomore setter/hitter Hillary Fritz put St. Paul back on top by directing an errant teammate's pass into a hole, and Celina obliged with an error. But Bulldog setter Julia Klosterman spiked a kill after another save by Waterman, and Celina retied it on an ace by junior Meagan Stoker. The Flyers roared ahead 15-8, however, after a spike by Flyer outside Emily Rospert was dug out of bounds, and Welfle and outside Hannah Livengood combined for five kills while frosh libero Corynne Smith served. Klosterman and Waterman scored two for Celina, which closed further to 18-14 on two kills and a block by Yoder, aided by good passes from Stoker. At this point Nickoli spiked a point off a Bulldog block, and a serve by Welfle was not returned. After a timeout things went from bad to worse for Celina, when Welfle pinpointed three aces into different locations. Bulldog Maria Dorsten ended the run, and Norwalk hit one long, but Flyer frosh middle hitter Kelsey Barna scored on a difficult to get to spike, and Livengood ended the game with a well placed hit down the line. Livengood got St. Paul going in game two with a spike and a tip. Waterman responded with a blast that was dug into the net, but St. Paul flew ahead 8-1 on Celina miscues, three kills by Welfle and an ace from Livengood. With the score 10-3, Fritz ran over by the bench and angled an errant pass over the net into a hole. Junior hitter Emily Rospert tipped to make it 12-3. But led by Yoder, Celina began chipping away with an ace by Meagan Stoker cutting the lead to 15-10. And after two more St. Paul scores, Klosterman spiked a kill that sparked a four point spurt, fueled by digs from Stoker and Waterman, and a termination and block kill by Erin Dorsten. St. Paul scored three straight on kills, but Celina responded in kind, and a booming block by junior outside Kelsey Mastin left the score 21-18 St. Paul. At that juncture, unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Nickoli spiked to an empty spot on the right and Welfle served three points, two on aces to end the game. Klosterman drew first blood for Celina in game three with an ace, but Smith put St. Paul atop 2-1 with an ace of her own. Welfle followed a diving save at the net by Bundschuh with a kill, and after saves on both sides by Smith and Klosterman, she blasted another score. St. Paul moved further on top 12-7 thanks to two leaping kills on the left by Livengood.
But a service error followed and the Bulldogs
added five more points to go up 13-12, getting two kills by outside Maria
Dorsten, a kill and block from Erin Dorsten and a long St. Paul hit that
followed another save by Waterman. But three kills by Welfle, one on an off-speed tip, the others on quick hits off sets by Bundschuh and Fritz put, St. Paul back atop 18-15. A service error ensued, however, and Celina regained the lead on a cross court blast by Klosterman, a split-the-seams blast from Mastin, and a block by Yoder. St. Paul retied on a hitting error that occurred on a long volley kept alive by Welfle and Celina's Maria Dorsten. On the next point, Livengood dug a bomb by Yoder, but Klosterman followed up with a cross-court termination. That left Celina on top 20-19, but proved to be the beginning of the end for them. Nickoli tipped into a hole and followed with an ace. Fritz scored on a play at the net to end another intense volley. Celina obliged with a hitting error and was then called for reaching over trying to kill an overpass. Bundschuh then terminated the match winner into mid-court, as a diving defender pounded the floor in frustration. St. Paul finishes the regular season at 20-2, and 12-0 in the Firelands Conference. They clinched their ninth straight and 11th in the past 12 years title last Thursday with a four game win over rival Monroeville. All this with a lineup consisting of eight juniors, two sophomores and two frosh. Coach Miller had lots of kudos for the juniors who have worked hard to develop leadership skills. She noted that four junior captains have three years of state final four experience. St. Paul won state in their first appearance in 2002, and they've been regulars at the Nutter Center the past four years, finishing runner-up, semifinalist, champion and runner-up, respectively. A fifth straight appearance is quite plausible, although Buckeye Central, Dalton and Kidron Central Christian will surely care to disagree. Celina ends the regular season 18-4 and 9-0 in the Western Buckeye League.
|
|
Copyright © 2002-2010 [ohiohsvb.com]. All rights reserved. |