ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic got off to an impressive start in the Division III volleyball sectional tournament at Elyria High on Tuesday with a three-game sweep of Shaker Heights Laurel School. The Panthers used several nice runs and the powerful slams of junior Zoe Zwegat to dominate the match.
The scores of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-21 advanced the No. 4-seeded Panthers (12-11) to the fourth bracket sectional title match Thursday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the Cleveland Heights-Lutheran West match — Tuesday’s second sectional semifinal.
Elyria Catholic had runs of five and four in each of the first two games Tuesday, but the most important streak was 13 points — 12 of them with Katie Wetzel serving — in the deciding third game. The Panthers used the run to turn a 16-10 deficit into a 23-16 lead that just about sewed up the decision.
The opening game stayed close before Wetzel’s serve sparked a five-point run to give the Panthers the lead to stay. Zwegat and Erin Kretovics each scored four points in the game, and Theresa Krosse had back-to-back dink kills.
Katherine McNeeley had three aces in Game 2, including the game-winning 24th and 25th points. Zwegat scored five points in the game — three on spikes, one on a block and the other on a dink.
The third game, which started out strong for Laurel (12-8) before Wetzel’s serving run, was decided by a Zwegat spike. Zwegat had 15 kills — six in the final game. Breanna Roldan and Megan Hanson tied for next with seven apiece. Zwegat also led in blocks with five, while Krosse led in digs with 10 and assists with 30.
“We were excited tonight, really pumped,” said Zwegat. “I think we won because we played together as a team.”
“I think we did well, but still need some improvement if we’re going further in the tourney,” Elyria Catholic coach Kim Watson said. “Tonight we played well as a team with good blocking and serving.”
“I thought we hung in there pretty well, but just gave up too many runs,” said Laurel coach Dave Stoehr.
Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.