Keystone sweeps Open Door in volleyball

ELYRIA — Slow and steady was a successful recipe for Keystone, which beat Open Door 25-22, 25-11, 25-22 in non-conference play Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats improved to 7-10, while the Patriots fell to 9-5, heading into the final two weeks of the regular season. "We tried not to get too excited about mistakes today because we are prone to making mistakes," said Keystone's first-year coach Laurie Cogan. "The kids have been focusing on just keep playing forward. The only way to correct mistakes is moving forward, and I thought we did a good job of that today." The first set went back-and-forth with neither team able to hold more than a two-point lead, each coming out with a strong serve game and toughness at the net. Grace Giesbrecht and Gina Lawver provided aces for Open Door, while Emma Bachman, Brooke Smith and Aubrey Adkins did the same for the Wildcats. It wasn't until Adkins put together a three-point service run with the score tied 19-19 that Keystone pushed ahead by three points, 22-19. A tip-kill from senior McKenna Saterlee, a kill from Bachman and a Patriots' hitting error closed out the scoring. "Saturday matches have always been a struggle," said Saterlee, who finished with 23 assists. "I'm not sure why but, today, we pulled through. Once we were able to put up a block, it was there and grabbing that first set was big for us." The Patriots' hitters tried to adjust to the block put up by the Wildcats with little success, putting down only five kills in the second set while giving up nine points on an array of unforced errors. The Wildcats also started controlling in the middle as 6-foot junior Brooke Smith picked up three kills and a block-kill. "We really had the passes in the system and the setter (Saterlee) just kept us in the zone," said Smith who finished with 12 kills. "It was important for us to get a lead, because once we do that we can get on a roll like we did in the second set." The third set was much of the same as Keystone rolled out to a 19-10 lead with seven more kills coming in the middle on five from Smith and a pair by Jessica Forthofer. A Rachel Faber kill sparked the Patriots, who climbed within 23-19 on the strength of two more kills by Faber and two from Giesbrecht. Open Door kept pushing, forcing a timeout call after closing to 24-22 after a pair of tip-kills by Caroline Szemesi, but a service error snuffed out the potential rally. "My girls showed a lot of heart and played phenomenal down the stretch, "Patriots coach Veronica Victor said. "We need to play the whole match like we did at the end. Who knows what the outcome would be if we played like that from the beginning." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Keystone 3, Open Door 0 Keystone 25-25-25 Open Door 22-11-22 KILLS: (K) Brooke Smith 12, Emma Bachman 8; (OD) Bianca Yakobchuk 9, Grace Giesbrecht 7 ACES: (K) Aubrey Adkins 4, Sith 3, Bachman 3; (OD) Gina Lawver 3, Giesbrecht 1. BLOCK-KILL: (K) Smith 1; (OD) Tachel Faber 3, Yakobchuk 1.