EATON TWP. — Third-seeded Elyria will meet second-seeded Olmsted Falls next Tuesday in the opener of the Division I district volleyball tournament.

The Pioneers downed Westlake, 26-24, 25-11, 25-14 on Wednesday night behind the solid play of senior Brigette Jones.

Olmsted Falls (16-7) took four games to eliminate Brunswick (18-6) in the second game at Midview High School, winning 21-14, 25-22, 26-28, 25-19.

Jones had 13 kills and eight digs, highlighted by tremendous serves in the second game. With Elyria (16-8) leading 7-5, Jones connected on four straight aces and five altogether in the service as the Pioneers scored seven straight points. She finished out the game with a dink for the 24th point and a slam for the 25th.

“I can’t remember if I’ve ever had five aces in one service,” Jones said. “Our passing was really good as we set up our hitters. In the first game, we started out slow (when Westlake extended it to a tie breaker), but then picked it up because we didn’t want to end our season this early.”

Kristen Boros also played well for Elyria with 10 kills, two blocks and 14 digs. Jazmyn Corlew added 10 kills, while Shelby Obitts had nine.

“A couple of things happened,” Elyria coach Jodie Johnson said of the narrow victory in the first game. “Our serves were too loopy and our transitions to defense too slow. We also had 14 unforced errors. But then we settled down and our passing really improved. Overall, I thought our defenders did a great job sparking our offense.”

Westlake (9-15) came out really charged up in the opening game. Led by Hayley Brooks’ slam, a service ace by Heather Smith and a dink by Erin Thomas, the Demons scored four straight points for a 9-4 lead. They kept the lead until Elyria’s Jenna Westgate scored on a tip shot to tie it at 16. It was tied at 24 by a tip shot by Demon Lexi Schmidt. Then the Pioneers got the tie-breaking win with two straight points on net violations. The other two games were dominated by the Pioneers to close out the sweep.

“I thought going in maybe we could play with them,” Westlake coach Marc Pogachar said. “But it didn’t happen. After our good first game, we came out a little tentative in the second and had a few lapses and Elyria cashed in on them.”

Meanwhile, Brunswick couldn’t handle the pressure of Falls.

“I think we started with a lot of butterflies,” said Brunswick coach Mande Pyzik of her team‘s loss to Olmsted Falls in the nitecap. “We were excited when we won the third set but then fell. Falls’ speed and scrappiness outplayed us.”

Kelly Merholz led Brunswick with 14 kills, followed by Mikaela Youmell with 12. Julianna Laughlin had 26 digs.

After losing the first two games, Brunswick started out strong with an 8-1 lead in the third and led all the way until Falls grabbed a temporary edge at 25-24. But Merholz’ slam tied it to send the game into a tie breaker. After it was tied again at 26, the Blue Devils (18-6) scored two straight to win it.

In the fourth and deciding game, Olmsted Falls led most of the way and closed out the match when Corinne Manley scored on a tip to make it 25-19.

“We got tentative in the third set,” Falls coach Dino Pietromica said. “But give credit to Brunswick. They got fired up. Before the final, Dayna Roberts told me in the timeout that Brunswick might be vulnerable to the slide (where the middle hitter sweeps outside instead of the middle). That worked great as Brunswick didn’t defend the slide.”

Manley led the Bulldogs with 22 kills with 13 blocks and seven digs. Shannon Deleur had nine kills and 17 digs. The big surprise was Kayla Petro — just a sophomore brought up to the varsity at tourney time — who had 15 kills and five digs.
“I thought we came out strong and never gave up,” Manley said. “My blocking really picked me up.”

Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-7137 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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