FAIRBORN — They’ve already gone farther than any Olmsted Falls volleyball team in school history.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs will attempt to put a perfect ending on  what would be a perfect season.
Can you say unbeaten state champions? The Bulldogs hope so.
Falls defeated Brecksville, the Division I Cinderella team, in three games in semifinal play Thursday to advance to the state championship match Saturday afternoon at 1.
Falls downed its fellow Southwestern Conference member 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright State University.
It was the third victory for the Bulldogs over the Bees this season. All three matches lasted just three games.
“I told the girls we didn’t have to beat them three times,” Olmsted Falls coach Dawn Moses said. “We only had to beat them once. We got up early this morning to look at film to see what we might have missed from the regular season.”
Olmsted Falls, ranked No. 2 in Ohio, will take a 28-0 record against No. 1 Ursuline Academy, which beat No. 3 Mount Notre Dame, 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 in Thursday’s other semifinal. Unranked Brecksville completed its season 22-5.
Whatever Moses and her players saw in the films they responded to it quite well. The Bulldogs were especially impressive at the ends of the first and third games. Olmsted Falls trailed 17-16 in Game 1 before scoring the game’s last nine points.
The Bulldogs finished the match with a 7-0 run to close out the third game. They never trailed in Game 2 and were behind only 1-0 and 3-2 in the final game.
“They adjusted real well to our outside attack,” Brecksville coach Rob Cline said. “We didn’t stick to our game plan. We wanted to attack down the line. We were really successful getting here with that. I think Falls saw that in the regionals and they took it away from us.”
The Bulldogs’ blocking, particularly along the sides, picked up at the end of the opening game. Three of the last five points came via kill blocks, all by the duo of senior Christine Peffer and freshman Angie Bush.
“The kids did a nice job of committing to the block,” Moses said. “We started out slowly, but we adjusted very nicely.”
Three other points in the Bulldogs’ 9-0 run to end Game 1 came via serving aces by All-Ohio senior Lauren Whyte.
Whyte was one of four Bulldogs with kills for the match. Peffer led the team with 11 kills. Whyte added 10 and Corinne Manley and Brittany Snider had eight kills each. Falls had 37 kills to 27 for the Bees.
Meredith Paskert led Brecksville with eight kills, 10 digs and 14 points with four aces.
Whyte and Brooke Purvis paced Falls in digs with 13 and 11, respectively. Sophomore setter Danya Roberts had 30 assists, 9 digs and a pair of aces in Game 3.
The opening game went back and forth, with no team having more than a two-point lead until Falls scored the final nine. Whyte had five kills in Game 1.
Olmsted Falls stretched its scoring run to 14 by scoring the first five points of Game 2. The Bees hung tough, never down by more than six points. A Falls hitting error made the score 24-22 before Snider’s kill ended the game and gave the ’Dogs a two-games-to-none advantage.
Peffer had her best game in No. 2 with five kills.
The Bees again gave Falls a battle in the third game. Brecksville trailed only 18-16 after a kill block by Paskert. Snider’s kill gave the serve to Roberts, who completed the sweep. An ace by Roberts, a kill by Manley and
three hitting errors by the Bees brought Olmsted Falls to match point.
Snider’s kill off Roberts’ assist was the decisive point.
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

NOTES

Bulldogs didn’t feel nerves, until hometown fans showed up

The Olmsted Falls coaching staff brought the players to the Nutter Center early, to get them used to the floor and to let them shake off any nervousness about playing in an arena so large.
Brittany Snider had no cold feet until all the blue T-shirts showed up.
“The first time I got nervous was when our fans walked in,” Snider said. “I don’t know why.”
The Olmsted Falls student section has long had a reputation for exuberance.

Cincinnati chilly?

None of the three Olmsted Falls players who faced reporters after the match would admit to approaching Saturday’s championship with trepidation. Both teams in the other semifinal were members of the Greater Cincinnati League, which has won the Division I state championship nine of the previous 10 years (with five different schools claiming titles).
“This is what we worked for all season,” Danya Roberts said. “We can’t let up now.”

Day-Glo Lions

The Falls students were loud literally. The Ursuline Academy
fans, who arrived shortly before the end of the first Division I semifinal, were loud figuratively.
The majority of the girls were decked out in fluorescent green shirts and some pants and accessories of the same color. Not quite a match for the more subdued green the Lions players wear.

– Steve Byrne

NEXT UP

WHO: Olmsted Falls vs. Cincinnati St. Ursuline
WHAT: Division I state volleyball final
WHEN: Saturday, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Wright State, Fairborn
TV: SportsTime Ohio

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