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Marion Local's Kate Ashman (10) hits it past Spencerville's Tatum Schwartz (30) and Averie Hollar (2).
ST. HENRY - With two Midwest Athletic Conference teams competing for the right to play each other, St. Henry and Marion Local took care of business in their D-VI sectional finals matchups Thursday night in St. Henry. In the late match, the Flyers had to battle to sweep a tall Spencerville team 25-20, 25-14, 25-13, while St. Henry found it a bit easier and beat Perry 25-4, 25-5, 25-8 in the opening game.
Both teams winning means they will face each other on Oct. 27 in Wapakoneta at 7:30 p.m. The Redskins beat the Flyers in five sets during the regular season matchup in Maria Stein.
While four-seed Marion Local (14-9) had to wait a little bit, the match proved worth the wait as the team had to dig deep to sweep the fifth-seeded Bearcats.
Spencerville (13-10) opened the match on the front foot, and took a 7-3 lead after an errant serve by the Flyers. But Marion clawed back into the set, and used an Izzy Stucke kill to take a 9-8 lead. The teams tied at 10-, 13- 14-, and 18-all on the ensuing points, before Stucke struck again on the outside to give Marion Local a 19-18 lead.
Baylie Evers' block against Spencerville's 6'0 middle hitter Briley Cook pushed the lead to 21-19, and another run set up set point. Quinn Moeller's emphatic kill, her second straight of the set, ended the opener in favor of the Flyers.
"Baylie contributed a lot and had a great night," said Marion Local coach Marcia Moeller, who earned her first postseason win as head coach. "Our middles had a really good night as well, which we've been working with them on being available and getting open. We moved the ball really well and got everyone involved tonight."
With some early nerves settled, Marion used Evers' kill and an ace from Emersyn Mescher to grab a 5-1 lead. More solid play and another kill from Stucke pushed the lead to 11-6, where Evers' kill forced a timeout from the Bearcats.
The break hardly stopped the Flyers, as Kalyn Thobe's one-arm dive found the hardwood to keep the momentum going the lead grew again to 15-6. Moeller proved key again later in the set, as her kill made it a 20-12 lead after a long rally. Kate Ashman got in on the action to make it a nine-point lead as another timeout came from the red and black bench.
Marion Local's Kalyn Thobe (26) sets up a teammate for a spike attempt during Thursday's sectional match with Spencerville in St. Henry.
An ace from Moeller killed any momentum Spencerville had out of the break, and Ashman's tip at the net sealed the set for the Flyers later on.
"The first game we were a little slow, but to be able to pick it up in games two and three, I'm really proud," said l coach Moeller.
The third set seemed like a formality going into it, but the Bearcats showed fight and have an early 5-4 lead. Ashman settled the Flyers down with a kill, and the team was off and running. Moeller had a kill and an ace to make it a 9-6 lead for Marion Local, while back-to-back aces from Faith Ronnebaum extended the lead to 13-7 and another timeout came from Spencerville.
The Flyers kept rolling after Ashman's kill set up Eckstein's ace at 17-8. Harper Rose was efficient with her time on the court, and earned three kills over the final five points to give Marion Local the set and match.
St. Henry's Kennady Bollenbacher (15) goes for the dig as teammates Ella Schwieterman (0), Abigail Broering (11) and London Sheeley (7) watch on. St. Henry swept Perry to advance to the Div-VI district semifinals against Marion Local.
St. Henry opened the night on a 10-game winning streak, and played like it as the Redskins defended home floor against Perry in a simple sweep.
"The girls kept building confidence," said St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck. "Even in that Versailles loss or New Bremen loss (both were right before the winning streak), there was a lot of good. So I think they're building that confidence to know that they can play against the best teams in the state of Ohio and win."
Finley Brewer's kill opened the match for the Redskins (19-4), who scored the first five points of the set to take an early lead.
St. Henry's London Sheeley goes up to serve the ball against Perry.
London Sheeley got the serve at 7-2, and used eight aces over a 15-point run by the hosts to earn a 22-2 lead. Kylie Bollenbacher picked up two kills in the run, while Karlee Baumer added one.
The rest of the set was a simple one for St. Henry, and an ace from Addy Homan gave the team a 1-0 lead.
It was déjà vu as Homan opened the second set with an ace, and the Redskins' rolled to an early 14-5 lead after Renee Wendel's kill. Perry never saw the ball again as Ella Schwieterman used two aces in a row to extend the lead to double-digits. Bollenbacher added two kills to make it 18-5, and three more aces of the rest of the set from Schwieterman gave St. Henry an easy second set win.
"We served aggressively (St. Henry finished with 25 aces on the night), executed offensively, eliminated errors and put a lot of pressure on (Perry), which is what we wanted to do," said Rosenbeck.
While the lineup shifted, the result did not in the third set. St. Henry used kills from Mylee Kramer and Shaylee Lefeld to take a 6-2 lead, where Abigail Broering got the serve.
The junior had four aces in a row to give St. Henry a 10-2 lead. It only grew from there as Sheeley added another ace and a block from Brewer made it 19-8.
Junior Rylie Buschur got the serve for St. Henry, and use two aces in a row to make it 21-8. Lefeld added two kills, including on match point, to end the match in under an hour.
Bollenbacher led the Redskins with eight kills, Sheeley finished with nine aces and Homan had 21 assits.
