District Volleyball: Open Door can't close out match, falls short of regional

SMITHVILLE — The season came to an abrupt and surprising end for Open Door Christian on Thursday night. Despite winning the first two games and having what looked like a commanding lead in the decisive fifth game, the second-seeded Patriots fell to third-seeded Campbell Memorial 17-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-13 in the Division VII, Northeast 2 district final when Elysia Rudolphi slammed home the kill on match point for the Red Devils. "I'm definitely more than disappointed, to say the least," senior Paige Pachinger said. "We started off so strong and had the momentum. Then we started losing it going into that fifth set for sure." Pachinger led Open Door (20-6) with 16 kills, four aces and three blocks, while adding 16 digs. After the Patriots fell behind 6-4 in the final game, Pachinger stepped to the service line and tied the game at 6 with an ace. The Patriots took the lead when a Memorial player crossed the net and rolled out to a 12-6 lead. The Red Devils (20-5), much like they had all match, refused to fade into the night and ran off the final five points to advance to a regional semifinal against either top-seeded Mogadore (19-5) or seventh-seeded Southington Chalker (16-5). "We started really strong the first two sets and then just couldn't really get it going the last three," senior Sammy Comer said. "We played really hard. I'm proud of us for that." Comer led Open Door Christian with 25 digs, adding three aces. After rolling to wins in the first two games with a great ability to close out points late, the Patriots began to struggle in that regard late in the third game. With the match tied at 13 after a hit out of bounds by Open Door, the Red Devils scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 21-15 lead before sophomore Briella Bendik (11 kills, 11 digs, 17 assists) tried to stop the momentum with a kill. Memorial was only temporarily thrown off, scoring the next four points for the win. The Patriots entered the match ranked 18th in Division VII by MaxPreps, while the Red Devils were 31st. "I think we came out really strong, I'm really proud of my team for that," senior Taylor Giesbrecht said. "I think we could have gained more confidence at the end of that third game. I think we got a little bit comfy with the other team. We were definitely the better team and I think we had the potential to play better." Giesbrecht led the team with 20 assists, while contributing eight kills and 11 digs. The Patriots also got strong games from Ellie Giesbrecht (four aces), Bella Gray (three blocks) and Rebekah Pachinger (two blocks). In the fourth game, the teams went back and fourth early until a kill by DaJanelle Will gave the Red Devils a 9-8 lead that Memorial never relinquished. Five straight points gave the Red Devils a 16-10 advantage on another kill by Will, and Memorial never trailed by fewer than six points the rest of the game. "We got caught tipping too much," Comer said. "They were swinging back at us and we weren't able to get a handle on it." "Overall, our defense did really well (early)," Taylor Giesbrecht said. "Sometimes we start games slow, but we came off better in these games and that's all credit to our coaches." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.