LAGRANGE — Brookside came close to getting a taste of its own medicine.
The Cardinals, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Keystone on Saturday, nearly fell victim to Bay, the district tournament’s Cinderella team, after winning the first two games Monday in a Division II district volleyball match at Keystone.
Brookside (20-4) beat the Rockets, 25-19, 25-21, then watched Bay (16-9) win the next two, 25-23, 25-22.
But the Cardinals dominated the last game, taking a 15-8 decision to advance to a district championship for the first time in school history.
The Cards will play top seed Padua on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Padua was a three-game winner over Rocky River in Monday’s first match.
“We went into Game 3 and I could’ve sworn we were down two games to none,” Brookside coach Ted Whitesel said. “This is all new to us.”
“We had a big win Saturday,” Brookside middle hitter Steffany Seiler said. “It was the first time in four years we beat (Keystone). We didn’t want to come this far and lose. We took care of business in the fifth game.”
Seiler was the most businesslike of the Cardinals in Game 5. The senior started the finale with a kill block, then went to the service line and gave Brookside four more points, three of them on aces.
“I came out of nowhere,” Seiler said. “I couldn’t believe I was getting those aces. I just wanted to serve well.”
She also wanted to hit well. Seiler had Brookside’s last three kills, including match point. Blocks were critical in Game 5. The Cards had five of them — two each by Ali Gendron and Kayla Lee.
Seiler finished with 13 kills, seven blocks, three kill blocks and six aces. Gendron paced the Cardinals with 20 kills and 19 digs. Kyleigh Whitsel added 14 digs to go with her 93-of-95 setting and 47 assists.
Pam Urwin had a great night for Bay with 18 kills, 13 digs and six aces. Urwin is Bay’s only senior. Gendron, Seiler and Brianne Skolnicki (10 kills) are seniors on the Cardinals.
“You can’t beat senior leadership in this situation,” Whitsel said. “Look at Bay. All they have is Pam for seniors. She played a great game — maybe her best of this year. And Bay will be back here because they’re so young.”
Urwin was tough in the games the Rockets won. She served four aces to guide Bay to an 8-1 lead in Game 3 and had 11 kills for the third and fourth games, including the kill that forced a fifth one.
“I said we needed to relax,” Whitsel said about what was discussed after Game 4. “Our passing’s much better than what we were seeing. You can’t play tense.”
Brookside was never in trouble in Game 5 after forging an 8-2 lead.
“They were serving aggressively and we weren’t passing too well,” Bay coach Tony Tahan said. “We had too many unforced mistakes throughout the match.”
The Rockets had 34 unforced errors. Ironically, they made none in the last game.
Brookside broke away from a 14-14 tie in the opening game and led 23-16. The Cardinals went on a 10-4 run to lead 23-18 in Game 2 before Bay got back to 23-21. A bad serve and a hitting error ended the second game.
The Cards fought back from their 8-1 deficit and led 23-22 in the third before the Rockets got the last three points. Brookside was ahead 21-17 and 22-19 in Game 4 before Bay scored six straight.
Sarah Vick and Marissa Radick each had 13 kills and four kill blocks for Bay. Bridget Doughty was 95-of-95 setting with 39 assists. Tori Carras served 16 points with five aces.
Contact Steve Byrne 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.