Monday, November 14th, 2022
Cavs swept by Cougars in Division III title game
By Tom Haines
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater senior Jenna Leugers (10) accepts the Division III state runner-up trophy after Saturday's championship match against Mentor Lake Catholic.
FAIRBORN - Once Coldwater rounded into form late in the regular season, it was good enough to reach the state championship game. But once there, up against top-ranked Lake Catholic, the Cavaliers came up short.
After big losses in the first two sets, Coldwater dug its heels in to try to win the third, but Lake Catholic pulled away in the end, sending the Cavaliers to a 12-25, 13-25, 20-25 loss in the Division III state volleyball title game at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State on Saturday.
"I feel like we gave it all we got," senior Riley Rismiller said. "We can't come up here and feel bad about ourselves, because we had such a great run, such a great season. So we can't walk away from today with our heads down, we have to keep them held high."
Coldwater finishes as state runner-up for the second time, with a loss to Versailles in 2017 in its only other trip to the state championship game.
Service runs by Katie Sowko and Emma Briganti put Lake Catholic (27-2) ahead 8-4 in the first set, and the deficit only grew from there. Ava Budrys Rini added a five-point service run, and after kills by Kendra Clune and Morgan Blasingame, Sowko put up three kills in five points to put the Cougars up 18-9.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Madison Wendel (14) puts the ball past Mentor Lake Catholic's Claire Duricky.
After Mia Slogar notched an ace to set up Lake Catholic at set point, Madison Wendel fired a kill down the right line to forestall defeat before Claire Duricky got a shot off Blasingame on the block for the final point.
"First and second set, it was almost like we were overpowering them," Lake Catholic coach Kara Oster said. "They were touching it on the block, but we were tooling their hands. Almost every time we attacked the ball, it resulted in a kill for us."
In the second set, Coldwater (25-5) fell behind quickly, as Lake Catholic consistently got sideouts and strung together short runs. The Cavaliers got back-to-back aces by Keira Knapke trailing 22-8, and again Wendel got a kill to delay the Cougars' win, but Duricky got another kill down off the block for a comfortable set win.
Through the first two sets, Coldwater was charged with nine hitting errors, one setting error, and one ball-handling error. Lake Catholic had not been charged with any errors in passing or attacking, racking up 31 kills without a miss.
"In Thursday's match (against Versailles), when we started the opposite of that, there was such a panic, because that's just not us," coach Oster said. "We're usually clean and aggressive, and the other team's the one that's making the errors. That was how we played today. It was textbook volleyball, very pretty."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Kendra Clune (19) and Spencer Etzler (13) try to block the spike of Mentor Lake Catholic's Katie Sowko (12) during the Division III state championship match on Saturday.
The third set was different from the outset, with Coldwater unlocking its block - recording six blocks in set three after none in the first two sets - and surging to an early four-point lead.
"We kept saying to them, 'We're so close on that block to executing, it's just that timing factor,'" Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler said. "We kept getting better in serve receive, that first ball sideout, so those two factors were things that we thought we weren't doing well enough in set one.
"We just talked to them about wanting to play together and play for each other, and to love that competition. 'How will you feel tomorrow morning when you wake up? Will you walk away from this match thinking that you did the best that you could for each other?'"
Lake Catholic caught up and tied it at 10, and Briganti served up four points, including two aces, to turn a 14-12 Cavaliers lead into a 16-14 Cougars advantage. Kendra Clune blocked a shot by Natalya Bergant to stop the run and Knapke notched another ace to tie it before putting the next serve in the net. Leugers fired a kill off the block to tie the set at 17, but Duricky responded with a spike down the middle to put Lake Catholic back in front.
"We were able to make it out of the match without calling any timeouts," coach Oster said. "In that third set, there were a few times we looked at each other like, 'Okay, if they don't get the next one, we'll call it.' But then they got the next one. Really, these girls just handle a lot of our successes out there on the court by themselves."
From there, the Cougars showed again why they were No. 1 in Division III all year. Julia Oster rattled off a six-point service run, aided by a block and a kill by Budrys Rini and three Coldwater errors, as Lake Catholic took a 23-17 lead.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Morgan Blasingame spikes the ball against Mentor Lake Catholic.
Rismiller spiked an errant dig to stop the run, and after a long serve set up match point, she blocked a shot on the right side to keep the Cavaliers alive. A shot by Sowko went right to make it 24-20, but on the next point, a miscommunication led Clune and Blasingame to collide trying to send a free ball over and the shot went into the net.
"They're just kind of relaxed when they play," coach Etzler said. "They have a fast tempo with their offense - first ball pass is quick, then their setter has great wrists as she runs the offense. They're lethal pin to pin, their middles hit on transition, and they have some scrappy defensive players. They're probably one of the best teams in the state of Ohio, regardless of division."
Leugers earned a match-high 15 kills, while Keira Knapke fired four aces. Blasingame finished with 27 assists, followed by Etzler with 19, and Etzler added 14 digs.
