St. Marys outlasts Celina in five sets

ST. MARYS - The Celina-St. Marys WBL volleyball match had two turning points, both of which came after each team had one of its toughest sets of the season.

Celina, down 2-0 in the match after losing the second set 25-8, roared back to take the next two sets 25-22 and 25-13.

That tough loss in the fourth set was St. Marys' turning point as they came back to take the fifth set 15-5 to win the match and remain unbeaten in WBL play with two league matches to go.

"I'm pleased with my kids," St. Marys coach Monica VanderHorst said. "They played with grit. They played with heart and weren't going to let Celina beat us on our home court."

The Roughriders won the first set 25-15 and completely dominated the second set thanks to reigning WBL player of the year Erika Angstmann, who had eight kills and two blocks in the set.

Celina coach Amy Sutter had one question for her team in the huddle before the third set.

"Honestly, we asked them if they were going to let that happen to them - to sit back and let them hit on them and serve on them without fighting back," Sutter said. "They all said no. So having said that, we told them to go out there and play fearless."

The Bulldogs stormed out in the third set. Alyssa Hoyng served up five straight points to put Celina up 10-4 and later runs by Cora Lutz and Trish Dennis made it 18-10. St. Marys came back with a run to tie it at 20-all and later 21-all, but Dennis had a kill and a block on back-to-back plays and later added a kill to make it set point.

"In the third game, we just had a little mental lapse," VanderHorst said. "We fought back like crazy, but were just a little too short."

The momentum continued into the fourth set for the Bulldogs. Hoyng, Carly Post and Dennis had tremendous service runs to put Celina up 22-9 en route to a 25-13 win.

"What turned it around is that our blocks got a ton better," Sutter said. "McKenna Black went in and she and Trish did a little better job of getting their hands on the ball

Now it was VanderHorst who had to talk to her team going into the fifth and final set.

"I told them they just needed to hold their composure," VanderHorst said. "We pass the ball and attack at the net, we're going to win. If we tip and give them the opportunity to hit back, things usually don't go the way we want them to go"

Hitting errors hampered Celina early in the first-to-15 finale. Taryn Swander added a stuff block to make it 3-0 to force Celina to use a timeout. The Bulldogs got a point and the serve on the ensuing play, but another error gave the ball back to St. Marys and then two more hitting errors made it 6-1 Roughriders. The coup de grâce came with Quincy Rable at the service line and St. Marys up 9-5. Ally Angstmann had a kill and Cortney Voisard had two kills and two blocks, the second block closing out the match.

"I thought Cortney and Taryn did a great job at the net," VanderHorst said. "Erika came in and got some blocks and Quincy Rable got touches for us.

"The kids got fight. They got heart. They have one goal and that's to play one WBL (match) at a time. When you play at home, you have to get a win."

Even with the loss taking her team out of the WBL race, Sutter was happy about the effort.

"I told them they're pressing more and more and their defense is getting better. We're challenging more teams," Sutter said. "Just like we did against Lehman (which Celina won in five sets after being down 0-2), it takes a lot of heart and character."

Erika Angstmann had 27 kills and 19 digs for St. Marys. Sister Ally Angstmann had 25 kills. Natalie Kuenning recorded 42 assists.

Hoyng had 19 kills for Celina. Dennis added 10 kills and four blocks. Paige Sutter had 40 assists.

Both teams are back in WBL play on Thursday. Celina hosts Van Wert and St. Marys travels to Defiance.