OLMSTED FALLS — No one could have asked for a more beautiful day as Olmsted Falls High School students, faculty members and parents gathered by the front door to send the Bulldogs volleyball team off to the Division I state tournament Wednesday.
The OFHS marching band played. The sunlight reflected off coach Dawn Moses’ hair, colored bright gold for the occasion. The players wore specially made tie-dyed
T-shirts for the occasion and their names and numbers adorned the Bulldog paws painted on the driveway to the school’s parking lot.
The temperature was in the neighborhood of an unseasonable 70 degrees and the sun shone brightly as the Bulldogs boarded a bus to take them to the Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright State University for this afternoon’s semifinal match with a familiar opponent — the Brecksville Bees.
Olmsted Falls, unbeaten through 27 matches and ranked second in Ohio, will take on Brecksville, unranked and owners of a 22-4 record.
“Let me explain the 212,” Moses said to the crowd. “It’s been our theme this year. At 211 degrees, water is hot. Water at 212 degrees will make steam. With steam you can power a train. The one degree makes all the difference.”
Shirts with “212 The Extra Degree” could be spotted at the sendoff. So could the new ones sported by parents, lauding the team’s having reached the Final Four for the first time in eight years.
Olmsted Falls will be trying to bring home its first volleyball state championship and the first to a Division I school from Cuyahoga County since 1998. The Bulldogs reached the semifinal round in 1977 (losing to Clyde, 15-7, 15-5) and in 2000 (losing to Roger Bacon 15-12, 16-14). Olmsted Falls was Division II in both of those years.
Moses said she wasn’t surprised to see Brecksville emerge from the Hudson regional, in spite of that tournament having ranked teams in Mentor and Cloverleaf.
“We expected them to get out of that regional,” Moses said. “They beat good teams, but I thought they were as good as any of the others.”
Brecksville is led by 6-foot-1 senior Meredith Paskert, a middle hitter on her way to Kent State University next season (where she’ll join another star freshman from the Southwestern Conference, Amherst libero Ashley Aponte). Bees coach Rob Cline calls Paskert his “best all-around player” who shines in the tough matches. Paskert has more than 300 kills this year.
Another outstanding all-around player is 5-11 junior Olivia Chrzanowski, a transfer from Padua. Cline regards her as a player valuable for her serving, serve receiving and defense as well as her outside hitting.
Lindsay Remington is a 5-10 senior who was plagued by shin splints, but appears to be recovered. She had 20 digs in the Bees’ victory over Cloverleaf in the regional final.
Brecksville runs a 6-2 offense with setters Ashley Sturgeon and 6-foot Jacque Rezler. Abby Brinkman, a 6-foot freshman, completes the starting lineup.
Falls beat Brecksville in the Bees’ second match of the year, 25-20, 29-27 and 25-19. The second meeting went 25-16, 25-11 and 25-17 to the ’Dogs.
“We played them tough at home the first time,” Cline said. “We were competitive. The match at their place was not the same. Olmsted Falls was just hitting on all cylinders and there’s not much you can do when that happens.”
First-team All-Ohio outside hitter Lauren Whyte leads the Bulldogs with 464 kills. Second-team all-state pick Danya Roberts, a sophmore setter, has 998 assists.
Still, Moses insists Brecksville is not a team to be overlooked.
“We’re playing this one point at a time, one game at a time,” she said. “That’s a cliché, but it’s true.”
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

TODAY

WHO: Olmsted Falls (27-0) vs. Brecksville-Broadview Heights (22-4)
WHAT: Division I volleyball, state semifinal
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Ervin J. Nutter Center, Wright State University, Fairborn
AT STAKE: Berth in Saturday’s 1 p.m. final

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