H.S. Volleyball: Londyn Stone lifts Avon to 5-set win over Hoban

PARMA — Londyn Stone was not about to let Avon fall down. The stellar sophomore came up huge in a pivotal fourth set and helped the Eagles rally to their first district title in volleyball since 1988 with a 25-15, 21-25, 13-25, 25-22, 15-12 win against Hoban in the Northeast 5 district final at Valley Forge on Thursday. "I wanted this," said Stone, who finished with 22 kills, including 12 in the fourth set and four in the fifth. "I wanted our team to do this. We had been looking forward to this as a team for so long, and whatever I can do to help my team out I'm willing to do. Whether it's getting that ball in bounds, getting a big kill for us, a block, a dig, that's what I was willing to do for us." No. 3 Avon (25-1) will face No. 2 Avon Lake (24-2), who defeated No. 5 Wooster (24-1) in four sets to capture the Northeast 6 district title, in the Region 2 semifinals at Norwalk at 6 p.m., a rubber match between the two schools who split in the regular season and shared the Southwestern Conference title. No. 4 Hoban ends its season at 24-1. Grace Busold once again came out strong in the opening set for Avon. Fresh off a district semifinal where she recorded eight kills in the opener against Amherst, the senior tallied seven on Thursday against Hoban as Avon built a 15-9 lead and kept the Knights at arm's length the remainder of the way. Avon looked to be in control of the second set, leading at 12-8, but Hoban rallied to tie things at 14, then 16. The Eagles won the next two points thanks to back-to-back kills form sophomore middle hitter Bethany Sherwood, but the Knights won nine of the next 12 points to close out Avon. The Knights broke open the third with eight unanswered to take a 13-5 lead. While Avon capitalized on a couple of miscues to get the deficit down to six, Hoban rattled off four straight and cruised to a 2-1 match lead. "After the third set I asked who's going to step it up," said Coffman, who won her third-straight district title in her four career seasons as a head coach, leading Vermilion the previous three years. "All of us had to step it up. All 15 of us need to step it up. And everyone just really came together. We talked a lot about energy. Not contributing to negative energy, but contributing to positive energy and that's what everybody bought into and rallied together and celebrated all the good things." Stone, who combined for six kills in the first two sets, was shut out in the third. That changed in a big way as the sophomore accounted for four of the Eagles first six points and was just getting warmed up. Nine of Avon's first 14 points were Stone kills as the Eagles led a 14-12 lead. Three Knights mistakes surrounded by an ace by Kaleigh Andrassy capped an 11-1 run for Avon. Hoban cut the deficit down to 24-22, but a thunderous kill from Stone halted the rally. "I think I spent most of that set in the back row," said Busold, who finished with 18 kills. "We kind of cruised with that and all played our part. We were playing our roles to the best of our ability, this was a solid team effort." Sherwood and Lily Hamilton combined for two points each to help Avon take a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Stone stepped in after that, securing two kills that helped the Eagles knot the game at six. Hamilton recorded three of the next four points and Stone helped Avon pull away with a kill that pounded off the back wall, giving the Eagles an 11-9 lead. Hamilton and Sherwood combined for the next three kills and, appropriately, Stone closed out the match. Hamilton finished the fifth set with five kills and an ace while Sherwood recorded two of her seven kills in the final set, also finishing the match with four blocks. "Everybody knew that was our last chance to do our best," Sherwood said. "We had 100 percent belief in ourselves to get the job done. That's what we did, we had the confidence and energy. We all supported each other so well that we just finished on a good note and we were all proud of how we played." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.