High school volleyball: Amherst makes Olmsted Falls work for SWC title

AMHERST — The rematch both teams had circled on their schedules certainly lived up to expectations Thursday, and though the Comets couldn't pull off a win to stay in the Southwestern Conference race, it's a game coach Felicia Sanchez said her team can walk away from holding its head high. Amherst needed a win over Olmsted Falls if it wanted a chance to at least share a conference title in back-to-back seasons, but in what was one of the more highly contested volleyball games of the season, the Bulldogs prevailed by simply outlasting the Comets in a 25-22, 17-25, 29-27, 25-23 win to clinch the outright SWC championship. "We wanted to make sure that our best volleyball didn't stop the second week of September when we played (Amherst the first time)," Olmsted Falls coach Brigid Radigan said. "We knew that in order to beat Amherst we would have to serve aggressively, we would have to pass in system and we would have to execute our offense because you can't give that team second or third chances to return the ball because they have some really great hitters and we're so undersized." Often the aggressive play worked against both teams as they forced each other into errors simply by upping the pace of the game, and there were a handful of service errors on either side that would extend a set. But Olmsted Falls (19-1, 12-0 SWC) knew after beating Amherst (15-4, 9-3) in the first meeting of the season that it had the Comets' backs against the wall — and used it to its advantage. "This was a must-win for them tonight, so I think they might have felt a little bit more sense of urgency than we did because this wasn't a must-win for us," Radigan said. The game also had all the makings of a playoff atmosphere, both in the play on the court and the energy in the gym. Several Amherst players had game-highs, including Lindsey McConihe with 33 digs and Nia Hall with 25 kills. Ava Haddix added 45 assists. "We went back to the drawing board, made a few changes to get us bigger in certain spots at the net and I think those changes worked and getting more people involved at key times," Sanchez said. Arguably the standout player of the night, however, was Olmsted Falls senior Kylee Urban, who has been making waves in the SWC since she was a freshman. Urban finished with 22 kills, 23 assists and nine digs, anchoring the Bulldogs and being a calming presence when the composure started to falter. "We knew we had to hit the certain spots that we knew were open on their court and we knew we had to stay calm no matter what," Urban said. "Like, we were in some really tight situations and we just had to stay calm and finish the games. "We knew Amherst was an amazing team. They've always been good, always been competition for us, and we knew we had to, no matter what happened, we had to regroup and pick it up." And though Urban and the Bulldogs have had Amherst's number this season, Sanchez and her team are looking forward to the possibility of facing their SWC rival again in the postseason as the tournament draw looms this weekend. "For us today it was the small victories," she said. "For us, that was a victory for us tonight. You know, fight adversity. Check. Don't worry about your errors; short-term memory. Check. Tonight we might not have won the match, but there are a lot of small victories that we're happy about and we're gonna check all the boxes. "We don't know how the brackets are gonna fall Sunday (but) we might see them again and after tonight's effort, they're coming in with confidence, knowing if we see them again, we're gonna be ready." Contact Marissa McNees at ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow her on Twitter @MarissaNM.