NORWALK — The 212 came dangerously close to being the 32.
That was before Olmsted Falls discovered its pilot light wasn’t out after all, and the Bulldogs rallied from losing the first two games to defeat St. Ursula Academy, 18-25, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 15-11, in a Division I regional semifinal Thursday.
Never in the 25 matches Olmsted Falls had played this season prior to Thursday had the Bulldogs found themselves behind two games to none. Never had the Falls, ranked No. 2 in Ohio, lost an opening game this year.
“There was a panic on the floor,” Falls coach Dawn Moses said about the first two games. “I can’t say what happened. We missed nine serves. We made all sorts of mistakes. We only needed to settle down.”
All season long Falls had used the theme of 212 — the boiling point — as a motivational tool.
But it looked like the fire was out in Game 1 as St. Ursula ran off to a 13-3 lead and coasted to victory. Falls started out OK in the second game, holding a 14-10 lead before the Arrows went on a 10-3 run to take another game and put the Bulldogs on the brink of elimination.
The victory puts Olmsted Falls (26-0) in Saturday’s championship match against Magnificat (16-9). The Blue Streaks knocked off Findlay, 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 26-24, in Thursday’s other semifinal.
The Bulldogs defeated Magnificat in four games in a regular-season match.
They had also beaten St. Ursula (15-10), but saw a far better club Thursday than the one they had beaten on Sept. 13. The Arrows had knocked off four teams ranked higher than themselves in their previous four matches (Magnificat, Findlay, Sylvania Southview, Notre Dame Academy) and they nearly made Falls upset victim No. 5.
“They’re a completely different team from the one we played before,” Moses said. “They’re very young and they’ve gotten better and better. We had to change our game plan and keep the pressure on them, and the girls were able to do that.”
SUA has only one senior on its roster. The Arrows use two freshmen and two sophomores in the regular rotation.
One big difference between the first two games and the final three was the ability of the outside hitters, Lauren Whyte and Brittany Snider, to be turned loose. Whyte had 12 of her 23 kills in the last two games. Snider had 11 kills in the final three games after getting four in the first two.
“We were forcing the ball in the middle, and they were shutting us down,” Moses said. “That’s what we wanted to do, but they’re bigger than we are. We had to go away from that and that was when Lauren and Brittany stepped up.”
Christine Peffer had eight kills and five kill blocks. Corrine Manley led the Bulldogs with seven kill blocks. Falls had a 14-9 advantage in kill blocks.
Erin Williams, St. Ursula’s outstanding freshman, led the Arrows with 19 kills. Maggie Burnham had 13 kills and Maggie Naayers added 11.
Poor serving and problems receiving plagued Falls in the opener. The Bulldogs served five bad ones and allowed four aces. Falls had no aces and saw the Arrows make just one bad serve.
The Bulldogs led most of the way in Game 3. An 11-1 run lifted Falls to a 21-11 lead. Game 4 was a see-saw affair until a 6-1 run by Falls lifted the Bulldogs to a 19-15 lead. SUA got as close as 21-19 before two kills by Whyte ended the game and forced a tiebreaker.
St. Ursula jumped to a 7-3 advantage in Game 5 before Falls outscored the Arrows 7-1. The ’Dogs increased the lead to 12-9 and 13-10. A hitting error made the score 14-10, but a bad serve kept hope alive for SUA. Whyte, however, ended that with a vicious spike down the left sideline.
Starting time for Saturday’s championship is 2 p.m. at Norwalk High School.
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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