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The Cardinal Stritch Catholic volleyball team created a motto going into the Division IV tournament: 15, 8, and 1.
It stands for 15 players on the roster, eight wins, and one championship.
Eight wins are what it would take for Stritch to win a state title, and the girls were on track until Thursday night. Stritch defeated a higher seed during the sectional tournament and a state-ranked, previously undefeated team in the district semifinal.
Stritch defeated Edon, which finishes at 23-1, 25-22, 12-25, 25-21, 25-23 Tuesday night at Defiance. Edon was ranked No. 12 in Division IV, had won an eight-team tournament in Indiana, and had only been taken to five sets twice this season, let alone not having lost.
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Stritch junior Abby Mass (12)
looks on as a teammate goes
for the kill. (Press photo by
Doug Karns/KateriSchools.com |
First-year coach Steve Boston got his players headbands with the team’s new motto printed on them.
“It’s kind of something that they’ve taken on, they believe in it, and they are going after it,” Boston said.
However, the Cardinals lost to Ayersville in four sets Thursday night for the district championship . The last Stritch team to get this far was in 2007.
Boston knew little about Edon, the Buckeye Border Conference champions.
“We hadn’t seen them at all. I looked over their record and saw some teams that we had matched up against. It was pretty similar results so I knew they were going to be a team that sort of played the same way,” Boston said.
“It was just a matter if we played our game. I think that’s what really came out because it showed. We took game one, and it was a close game, and then game two we kind of fell apart a little bit and they beat up on us and they took the game pretty easily. You kind of get that moment where you decide, ‘Are we going to be intimidated and get beat or are we going to rebound and play like we did in game one?’ We rebounded and it was interesting.”
This is a Stritch team that finished the regular season 12-10 (now 15-10) and 9-2 in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, losing twice in three sets to TAAC champion and defending state runner-up Toledo Christian (20-3, 12-0 TAAC).
“We lost some games that I think we could have won. We had some moments in the season where I think the gelling process wasn’t there. I think right toward the end of the season, there were some moments where the girls just started clicking and we’re just kind of on a wave of momentum right now,” Boston said.
His first Stritch team returns four players from last year's varsity squad, including Sara Turner-Smith. At 5-foot-10, the junior middle hitter is the Cardinals' tallest player.
The other returning starters are 5-7 senior setter Melissa Cobb, 5-8 junior outside hitter Carly Cannon and 5-1 senior libero Emily Lorton. Abby Mass, a 5-7 junior outside hitter/libero, has transferred in from the Tiffin area.
Boston, a former Owens Community College assistant coach, believes his Stritch team had the talent to Toledo Christian, but he won’t have to worry now because the top-seeded and No. 20 ranked Eagles were knocked off by Stryker, 20-25, 25-21, 25-17, 14-25, 15-13 in the sectional championship, and then Stryker was knocked off by Ayersville.
“It’s very ironic because this year I think we had the talent to beat (TC),” Boston said. “It seemed that when we played them it was more of an intimidation factor for these girls. That was what got me nervous going into the tournament because most of the teams we lost to, it wasn’t a talent issue, it was an intimidation issue because you’re dealing with three seniors, seven juniors, and four sophomores, so you’ve kind of got some younger girls on the team. So I think that the intimidation issue was lost when the tournament started and now they are kind of facing each team that they know they have to beat.”
In sectional tournament action at Archbold, Stritch won a title by defeating Holgate 25-12, 25-15, 27-25 and then toppled No. 2 seed Pettisville 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 15-12.
Also winning sectional championships were Clay, Eastwood, and Genoa.
Clay defeated Start 25-11, 25-6, 25-13 and No. 4 seed Bowsher 25-18, 24-26, 25-21, 25-17 at Perrysburg only to lose to top seeded and defending state champion St. Ursula Academy 25-11, 25-13, 25-9, in the Division I district semifinal. SUA finished the regular season 22-0 and ranked No. 1 in Ohio.
In D-II, Northern Buckeye Conference champion, top seeded, and 16th-ranked Eastwood (20-2) defeated Scott 25-10, 25-7, 25-10 and Bryan 25-21, 25-16, 25-10 at Liberty Center and faced off with Celina, who knocked the Eagles off last year, in the district semi Wednesday night at Liberty-Benton.
In D-III, No. 2 seed Genoa got a first round bye and then defeated Northwood 25-18, 25-21, 25-18 and was to play Liberty Center in the district semi at Napoleon Wednesday night.
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