Volleyball: Avon Lake can't finish great start, fall in sectional final to Olmsted Falls

EATON TWP. — This one is going to hurt for a while. Avon Lake had Olmsted Falls on the ropes in the Division I sectional final at Midview High School on Thursday night, winning the first two sets after a stunning comeback in the second. But the fourth-seeded Bulldogs, ranked 15th in the state, battled all the way back to claim a 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17, 15-6 win and advance to Tuesday's district semifinal against top-seeded St. Joseph Academy, which swept Westlake in the opener. "When you play a very talented team that really has no weaknesses and everything runs through their setting, which is really top-notch, you can't have any lulls," Avon Lake coach Dan Berkheimer said. "You cannot have any down moments. I was proud of our energy in the first two sets, but for some reason we looked flat in that third set and it gave them momentum." The fifth-seeded Shoregals (16-8) came out on fire, running out to a 16-6 lead in the opening set behind the hitting of senior Abby Kirk, who had five kills, and sophomore Maxine Springer, who added three. Kirk finished with 17 kills, while Springer led the way with 19 for the Shoregals. Falls (21-2) returned the favor in the second set, taking an 18-10 lead, but Avon Lake dug deep, finishing with a 15-4 run fueled by four Springer kills and single kills from Kirk, Madison Olinger, Jackie Loper and Alexis Meyer. Katie Guerra aided the cause with a pair of aces during a six-point run that put the Shoregals up 24-21. From that point, Olmsted Falls slowly clawed back to even the match as freshman Kylee Urban picked up 10 of her 16 kills in the third and fourth sets, setting up a race to 15 that ended up one-sided. The Bulldogs never trailed in the fifth set as sophomore Riley Victor picked up three kills to go with aces by Lauren Galaska and Allison Milligan. Lindsey LaPinta, who played flawlessly at libero with 35 digs, served out the last four points, including a pair of aces. "I'm really proud of the leadership that our seniors showed this year," Berkheimer said about Chloe Von Glahn, Kirk, Guerra, Allison Lazor and Loper. "They all had a different style of leadership and they all paved the way for the underclassmen. "All you can ask from a senior is to go out, play their best, play really hard with a lot of effort. All five of our seniors contributed something tonight." In the night's opener, top-seeded and seventh-ranked St. Joseph Academy started a redemption tour after losing in last year's district final one season after finishing as Division I state runners-up. The Jaguars had little trouble getting past eighth-seeded Westlake 25-12, 25-16, 25-7 as junior Molly Harrison dominated all around the floor with 11 kills, 12 digs, three block-kills and a pair of aces. "We definitely want to go a lot further than last year, that game definitely haunts a lot of us," said Isabelle Micheli, a Columbia Station resident, about last year's five-set loss to Magnificat in the district finals. "Right now, our only goal is to get better with each game. Even though we beat Mags in three this year, we are definitely not taking any team for granted in the tournament." Michaeli, a senior libero, finished the night with 11 digs and a team-high three aces. Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Olmsted Falls 3, Avon Lake 2 KILLS: (AL) Maxine Springer 19, Abby Kirk 17; (OF) Kylee Urban 16, Riley Victor 9, Halle slater 7 ASSISTS: (AL) Brooke Lumpkin 49 DIGS: (AL) Kai Rybarczyk 31, Katie Guerra 19; (OF) Lindsey LaPinta 35, Allison Milligan 18, Emma O'Brien 14 ACES: (AL) Guerra 2; (OF) Slater 3, four with 2 BLOCK-KILLS: (AL) Jackie Loper 4, Madison Olinger 3; (OF) Brittany Roman 2, Victor 2 St. Joseph Academy 3, Westlake 0 KILLS: (W) Morgan Rogers 6, Cami Whitesell 4, Katie Whitesell 4; (SJA) Jennifer Follmer 11, Molly Harrison 11 ASSISTS: (W) Maddie Gentzel 10; (SJA) Kirsten Barrett 28 DIGS: (W) Gentzel 9, ME Hargett 7; (SJA) Harrison 12, Isabelle Micheli 11 ACES: (W) Gentzel 1, Maddie Heil 1; (SJA) Micheli 3, Lauren Gardner 2, Harrison 2. BLOCK-KILLS: (SJA) Harrison 3