Monroeville wins outright Firelands Conference title

MONROEVILLE — Finish strong. Monroeville watched as St. Paul won Set 3 and even led in the later stages of Set 4. But as all championship-quality teams do, the Eagles finished took control late. Division VI, No. 7-ranked Monroeville won five straight points to erase the deficit and never steered from there, topping the Lady Flyers, 25-16, 25-20, 17-25, 25-20, to win the outright Firelands Conference championship Tuesday at the Monroeville Athletic Complex. "I'm very proud of the way the kids responded," Monroeville coach Kendra Snook said. "In Set 3, St. Paul outplayed us in every single aspect of the game, especially defensively. They were digging a bunch of balls and blocking balls. We were on our heels and not applying the pressure. We've been caught doing that a few times and we end up struggling. "It was nice to have them put back that pressure on in Set 4 in order to compete and win." The title is Monroeville's third in a row and fourth in five years. Going back further, Monroeville has won the league championship seven times in the last 11 seasons. "It's the first time in school history that we've won three in a row and to do that this year with how competitive the Firelands Conference is - and even the last two years - you have to play every single night," Snook said. "To win the title outright shows just how hard these kids are working." The Eagles (19-1, 13-0 FC) led most of the fourth set until midway through. Monroeville was up 14-10 when St. Paul (14-7, 10-3) strung points together to seize the lead. Down 15-12, the Lady Flyers won four straight points that included three kills by freshman Brooklyn Cassidy to go up 16-15. But, Monroeville responded. A hitting error was followed by two kills and a block by Alexa Adams as well as a kill from Madi Reiber. That put the Eagles up 20-16. Kegney Stoll tallied a kill out of a St. Paul timeout to stop the run, but two errors and an ace by Adams made it 23-17. A serving error brought up match points and after St. Paul fended off one of them, Reiber tallied her eighth kill of the night to give Monroeville the win. "We were being aggressive and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't," St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. "I will always want them to go out staying aggressive and that's what we ask them to do." It was all Eagles early on. Nothing came easy for either team, but Monroeville was in control most of Set 1. The Eagles opened leads of 7-3 and 14-10 before pushing the lead as big as 18-11 after consecutive kills from Ady Adams. St. Paul was never really able to make a run at it. The Lady Flyers closed the gap to 21-16, but Monroeville won the last four points of the set. Reiber lined a kill, Riley Platte stuffed a block, and Addison Lyons served up an ace to put the Eagles up 1-0. "We came out slow in the first set," Kalizewski said. "We have to learn to take that first set faster. But at no point did they quit. That's what we've been working on all year." Monroeville went wire-to-wire with the lead in Set 2, but again, it was far from easy. The Eagles carried the momentum from winning Set 1 over, going up 7-2 early after an Alexa Adams kill. Monroeville was able to open the lead to 10-3 following a Cayli Kegarise kill. But, St. Paul finally got into a groove and got back in the set. The Lady Flyers stormed back and tied the set at 11 only to lose the momentum there. Monroeville bounced back with three straight points and maintained at least a two-point lead the rest of the way. Ahead just 17-14, the Eagles pushed the advantage after two aces by Taryn Tyler and a kill by Alexa Adams. Monroeville surged ahead 24-16 only for St. Paul to win four straight points that included two kills by Shealyn Deeter to force a Monroeville timeout. But, the run stopped there as Reiber clobbered a kill to put the Eagles up 2-0. "Anytime you can start a match strong I think is a plus," Snook said. "It builds our confidence. Give credit to St. Paul because they didn't back down after those first two sets. We were serving aggressively and digging a lot of balls. That allowed us to run our offense very effectively." St. Paul played by far its best volleyball of the night in Set 3. The Lady Flyers answered and never trailed in the set. Much like the first couple sets, it wasn't easy for St. Paul. The Lady Flyers were able to use a run in the middle of the set to go up 15-11 after three kills by Ella Kalizewski. Monroeville got back within 15-14, but St. Paul rattled off the next seven points as Kalizewski continued to play big for the Lady Flyers. Cassidy lined a kill and a hitting error by Monroeville won the set for St. Paul. Kalizewski finished with 10 kills, 10 digs and three blocks for the Lady Flyers while Cassidy registered seven kills and three blocks. Stoll added five kills and three blocks, Deeter lined four kills, Lily Cuturic led the defense with 16 digs, Sydney Wurzie added 10 digs and Matlack had 24 assists, nine digs and three blocks. "I'm proud of everything that we did," coach Kalizewski said. "They worked really hard and never gave up. It's really hard when you're battling officials on top of the other stuff. I'm not one to normally say that, but we missed some bad calls tonight. That's OK. It is what it is." Alexa Adams led Monroeville with 13 kills while adding seven digs and two aces. Ady Adams tallied 11 kills and six digs, Lyons had 25 assists and 10 digs, Tyler contributed six kills and three aces, Addison Homan nabbed 38 digs, Kaci Poths contributed 16 assists, Grace Stieber added 13 digs and Reiber had 11 digs. "It was nice in that fourth set to finish strong and finish with a win," Snook said. "To be able to do that on our own home court to earn an outright conference championship is huge."