Huron goes back-to-back with Spiketacular Gold title

SANDUSKY — The Gold Bracket championship was a matchmaker's dream. Huron, led by Don Wood, faced New Bremen, coached by Diana Kramer. Each coach has five state championships to their name and the two have combined for nearly 1,100 wins. The Tigers dug deep, topping New Bremen 25-23, 20-25, 15-11 at the Summer Spiketacular at Cedar Point Sports Center on Tuesday. The two teams went back and forth in the lengthy three-set match. A kill from Mya Smith gave Huron their second straight Spiketacular Gold title. "They have a competitive spirit," said Tigers coach Don Wood of his team. "It's a scrimmage, but they competed. I know they're tired. I'm tired. They're just competing their best against good teams." New Bremen won 25 matches last year, losing in the Division VI semifinals. "They're very disciplined, but they're very young this year, too," Wood said. "You're playing the name. Some people say that about playing us. In the end, we respect each other. Coach Kramer and I are friends. We were glad we got to do it." Huron opened the day with pool play wins over Avon Lake (25-18, 25-19) and Copley (25-12, 20-25, 15-8). Once in the Gold Bracket, the Tigers took down Wooster Triway (25-14, 26-24) and Perkins (25-20, 25-20). Huron will look to keep it going Friday and Saturday when they play in the third and final Summer Spiketacular. The Tigers face Rootstown, Indian Lake and Mayfield in initial pool play contests. "Their prize for winning is two days of absolutely nothing," said Wood of a couple days off. "Seeing a rested team would be nice. We'll see how that works out. I'd like to see them come back and keep competing, whether we're playing well or not." Bellevue wasn't thrilled with a couple losses Monday that sent the Lady Red down to the Bronze Bracket. But, Bellevue made the most of it, capturing the Bronze title with a 25-21, 24-26, 15-8 win over Canton GlenOak. "It was good to finish strong today and finish the best we could given where we were placed after yesterday," Lady Red coach Liana Petitti said. "I'm proud of them for that. We definitely put more pieces together today. The second set, I threw in some new things and took Kate (Baptista) out of our libero just to give some underclassmen a chance." West Branch defeated Bellevue 25-19, 25-23 in the Lady Red's first match of the day. "Our first match, I wasn't thrilled with how we played overall," Petitti said. "We didn't capitalize when we had leads. That's something we're looking to focus on this year." It was the last match Bellevue lost. The Lady Red defeated Jackson-Milton (25-7, 25-20) before Bronze Bracket wins over Lakewood (25-14, 25-17) and Huron 2 (25-14, 25-17). Bellevue finished the event with a record of 6-3. "I think it was good to see some things," Petitti said. "You can only replicate so much in practice. Being able to face competition and see kids with a little pressure on them was good." For the second time in four days, Perkins ran into Huron in a Bronze Bracket showdown. And for the second time, the Pirates were on the wrong end. "They're good," said Perkins coach Brandon Duvall of the Tigers. "I think we played a lot better to a certain point. We'd get to 18 or 19 points and that's when our ball control issues come out. I thought their defense was pretty good. "There were some things we were trying to do and they were picking up balls." The Pirates advanced to the semifinals after a 25-23, 25-8 win over Wheelersburg. Perkins wrapped up the second round of pool play against an undefeated Monroeville team. The Eagles defeated Perkins 25-19, 25-19. "Monroeville is not going to give you easy points," Duvall said. "They're a great serving team and they're a great passing team. They're well-coached and clean. We expected that. I was more pleased with our performance against Huron than I was Monroeville. I think our ball control isn't where it needs to be." Perkins opened the day with a 25-22, 25-22 win over Defiance. The Pirates finished the event with a record of 6-2, running their record to 11-4 at the two Spiketacular events. "I liked how we came together as team," Duvall said. "We want to see how we connect, encourage each other and lift each other up. Not everybody is going to play their best ball at all times. I really enjoyed our leadership come in." Of the four matches St. Paul played Tuesday, three of them went the distance in the best-of-3 format. St. Paul won two and lost two, finishing as semifinalists in the Silver Bracket. "They worked really hard," said Flyers coach Angie Kalizewski of her team. "We come here to get experience and time on the floor. It would be great to be in Gold, but we're rebuilding a bit here. Just seeing them on the floor and seeing them compete against teams that do well, that's the goal." Botkins got the best of St. Paul in the Silver semifinals, topping the Flyers 29-27, 20-25, 15-11. That came after St. Paul opened bracket play with a 25-13, 25-17 win over Lakewood. "Having a couple not here and having a kid go down, it gave us an opportunity to get a lot of kids on the floor that sometimes you don't do because you know your lineup," Kalizewski said. "I was really proud of all of these kids that have never been on a varsity floor pushing teams to three sets." It was an up and down kind of morning for the Flyers. Wheelersburg topped St. Paul 17-25, 25-20, 15-8 before the Flyers beat South Range 22-25, 25-22, 15-10. Facing tough competition here will certainly help St. Paul out when the regular season rolls around. "We know we're going to go through the grind," Kalizewski said. "We make sure we have a tough non-conference schedule. That's the goal all the time. You want to keep coming to places like this and seeing teams you don't normally see. You know where you stack up." The Flyers finished the two-day event with a record of 4-4, but the experience of playing eight matches together could be pivotal. "I love that we're scrappy and we aren't giving up on each other," Kalizewski said. "That's a great sign. We're playing for one another and cheering for one another. I don't see selfish attitudes. I see kids that want to win and they'd rather win than have themselves be successful." For the second year in a row, Monroeville went 6-0 across two pool play rounds before a tough bracket draw. The Eagles ran into a tough defensive Indian Valley team who eliminated Monroeville 25-22, 25-23 in the Gold quarterfinals. "Our kids played very well and were very consistent throughout the tournament," Eagles coach Kendra Snook said. "I'm very pleased at this starting point. I think in our last match we ran up against a team that was a mirror image of us where they served well, passed well and played good defense. "We ride and die with our serve and we happened to miss a lot in that match." Monroeville won a key showdown with Perkins to finish pool play undefeated. Monroeville finished the event with a record of 6-1. "I was really impressed with how the kids came out and played against Perkins," Snook said. "In that match, we served really well and did not miss very many. We were in system a lot and were able to get them out of system to put some hands in front of their big hitters." The Eagles opened the day with a 25-13, 25-21 win over Campbell Memorial. Snook used the event to play with lineups as the summer progresses. "We saw some different things," Snook said. "We're going to be missing a couple here and there on the weekend. It'll still be summer and we will play around with stuff and give some other kids an opportunity to play and see what we have. "All in all, I have a better idea of what we may do than I did coming into the week. Monroeville returns Friday and Saturday for the third and final Summer Spiketacular. The Eagles face Salem, Teays Valley and Darby in its initial pool play round. "I think right now it's continuing to be consistent and believing that we can compete," Snook said. "I told them I didn't think a lot of them thought we'd be able to compete after the graduation of so many seniors. "They needed to realize that just because a lot of kids graduated doesn't mean we don't have a lot of talent coming back at Monroeville. Our JV and junior high programs have been good for the past 10 years, too." Norwalk won its final two pool play matches to get itself into the Gold Bracket. But, the Truckers ran into a fellow powerhouse in New Bremen. The Cardinals topped Norwalk 25-19, 25-19, eliminating the Truckers with a two-day record of 4-3. "Seeing a team like New Bremen is always fun," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "They're very scrappy, they're big and they hit the ball well. It was a chance to look at what we really need to work on going into the season." The Truckers opened the day with convincing wins over Copley (25-15, 25-12) and Avon Lake (25-22, 25-12). "I thought the girls rebounded well coming off that three-set loss to Huron last night," Kipp said. "We came in and took care of pool play this morning. I thought we blocked well. Defensively, the kids were scrappy. We served well."