ELYRIA — It was a three-game sweep but far from a romp.
Third-seeded Villa Angela-St. Joseph (14-12) ousted fourth-seeded Elyria Catholic (14-12) Thursday night for the Elyria Division III district championship in a hard-fought, exciting match that featured a number of long volleys.
The 25-21, 26-24 and 25-18 game results gave VASJ its ninth district title in the last 12 years, two of them leading to state championships (2001 and ’05). The Vikings will play the Smithville district champ next Thursday in the Barberton regional.
In the opening game, the Vikings opened an early lead, 16-9, before Elyria Catholic server Theresa Krossse led a six-point spree that closed the deficit to 16-14.
Breanna Roldan and Anna McNeeley had pretty back-to-back dinks in the streak. Later Krosse’s block-kill tied the score at 19 before the Vikings scored six of the next eight points to win.
While the first and third games were competitive, the second was by far the most entertaining to the many fans on hand, which included large student sections from both schools.
Elyria Catholic jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead but VASJ rallied and the game was tied seven times, the last at 24-all. The Vikings finally emerged the winner on a kill by Shayla Lang, followed by an EC return into the net. The game lasted over 30 minutes with a number of long exchanges.
In the Game 3 finale, the Vikings led most of the way, but Elyria Catholic still hung tough and only trailed by six after McNeeley’s block-kill made it 24-18. But Lang got the winning point for VASJ on a tip shot.
In the two regular season meetings between the teams, VASJ swept the North Coast League matches in four and five games.
Elyria Catholic coach Kim Watson felt the Panthers shot themselves in the foot this time around.
“I think we made too many unforced errors,” she said. “If we hadn’t of done that, our chances would have been so much better.”
On the positive side, she added, “I loved our team work and intensity. This was a great bunch of girls who played with a lot of heart.”
St. Joseph coach Mark Royer also had praise for the Panthers.
“EC has a great team with a great coaching staff,” he said. “We have so much respect for them. They are a class act and a class team. We knew it would be tough to beat them.”
Megan Hanson led the Panthers with six kills, while Krosse had a pair of aces and 21 assists, Katie Wetzel had 13 digs and Zoe Zwegat had seven block-kills.
For the winners, Lang led in kills with nine, while Kim Rossman had 30 assists, Kayla McGerry had 19 and Abbie Fabo had three block-kills.
Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-7137 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.  

Division I 

GRAFTON — Did they really need that additional motivation?
Olmsted Falls defeated Amherst for the third time this season, 25-17, 25-11, 26-24, to win their first-ever Division I district championship Thursday.
Amherst had beaten the Bulldogs in the 2007 district title match, and according to Falls head coach Dawn Moses, a comment made to reporters afterward might have pushed the Bulldogs to greater heights.
“A comment was made that we were prone to mistakes,” Moses said. “The players worked hard in the offseason. They weren’t going to let this team beat us again.”
Olmsted Falls didn’t make a ton of mistakes. Neither did Amherst. The match came down to raw talent and the Bulldogs simply had more of it.
“The bottom line is they are an absolutely outstanding team,” Amherst coach Laurie Cogan said. “They have all the pieces of the puzzle. They have the makings of a state champion.”
Olmsted Falls (25-0), the No. 2 ranked Division I team in Ohio, advances to the Norwalk regional next Thursday to play the winner of Saturday’s match between 13th-ranked Notre Dame Academy and No. 19 St. Ursula Academy. Amherst ended its season at 18-7.
“We worked so hard for this,” Falls’ outside hitter Brittany Snider said. “It feels very relieving.”
Snider was one of a trio of Bulldogs hitters the Comets found difficult to stop. Snider had 13 kills, joining middle hitter Christine Peffer (14 kills) and outside hitter Lauren Whyte (14 kills) in double figures.
“Look at all the weapons we have,” Moses said. “That’s what makes us so dangerous. You never know where the ball is going, and Dayna Roberts is the one that gets it there. She’s as good a setter as this area has seen, and she’s a sophomore.”
It wasn’t just hitting. Olmsted Falls turned up its blocking midway through the first period and finished with a 13-3 edge over the Comets in kill blocks.
“I called time out with the score 14-13 (Amherst ahead in Game 1),” Moses said. “I told them we had to commit to the block. We turned it around after that and blocking was huge.”
The Bulldogs had four kill blocks down the stretch in Game 1. Peffer had three of her kill blocks in the first game. Corrine Manley also had five kill blocks and Snider added three.
“It was mainly our middles (Peffer and Manley),” Snider said. “Christine froze their blocking and that opened it up for Lauren and me.”
Amherst’s Deme Morales led all hitters with 17 kills, including kills for seven of the Comets’ first 14 points. Aleecia Sunagel was next with seven kills.
“Our margin of error was minimal,” Cogan said.  “We exceeded the number of mistakes we could safely make, but that could be from being constantly pressured. It was not for a lack of effort. I can’t fault them for that.”
Olmsted Falls went on a 10-3 spree after trailing 14-13 in the opening game. Peffer got her seventh kill of the game to get Falls to game-point and Whyte finished it with a kill.
Amherst was never in Game 2 as the Bulldogs held leads of 11-6 and 16-8.  Whyte had six kills and Peffer had five in the second game.
The Comets made the third game exciting. Three straight points by Amherst tied it at
20-20. Falls got to match point at 24-22, but a bad serve and a kill by Abby Burgdorf tied it again. Snider’s eighth kill of the game and a kill block by Manley completed the sweep.
Ashley Aponte had an excellent defensive match for Amherst with 17 digs. Morales added 11 digs and Kaylee Koller had eight.
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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