Eagles win, Bears fall in D-VI tourney openers

MONROEVILLE — Taryn Tyler, Grace Stieber, and Cayli Kegarise played their last matches inside the Monroeville Athletic Complex on Wednesday. The three have been apart of three-straight Firelands Conference championships and numerous wins over the last four years. Against Gibsonburg, the top-seeded Eagles took care of business against Gibsonburg, defeating the Golden Bears, 25-0, 25-5, 25-7 in a Division VI district quarterfinal. "It was really fun," Tyler said. "It was laid back and we trusted our mechanics. We got out there and had fun. It was a great match to end my career on this court after so many great memories." Monroeville (22-1) advances to face fourth-seed Lakota (14-9) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hopewell-Loudon High School. "I think the best part of the stats were we had a lot of blocks," Monroeville coach Kendra Snook said. "That's something we've been focusing on this season. To have seven total blocks is huge for us. I think that's the most we've had all season in a match. I think that's a great thing." The Eagles came out hot in Set 1. With Madi Reiber (seven digs) serving, Monroeville had not a blemish in the opening set. Reiber served up a massive career-high 13 aces throughout the set. The Eagles sprinkled in some big hitting when the Golden Bears (2-21) returned the ball, but needed just over 10 minutes to go up 1-0. "She did a great job hitting her spots and had a lot of float on the ball tonight," said Snook of Reiber's serving. "I thought my kids did a nice job when it came back over to efficient and dig the ball and attack as well." Monroeville also raced out to a 13-0 lead in Set 2 with Tyler serving up four aces in the run. After splitting the next eight points, the Eagles won the next seven points to surge ahead 24-4. A serving error by Gibsonburg put Monroeville up 2-0. It was the ever so slightest slow start to a set for Monroeville in the third set. Gibsonburg was up 4-2 early before the Eagles ripped off the next eight points. Later, Monroeville finished the match on an 11-1 run. Ady Adams smacked a couple kills including the game-winner to send the Eagles to a comfortable win. "I like that the kids remained focused throughout the entire match," Snook said. "We were in system. They were swinging and they were trying to do some stuff we've been working on in practice. It was nice to have our last home match and them come out that efficient." Ady Adams led Monroeville with six kills while Alexa Adams had 10 digs, four blocks and three kills. Platte finished with five kills and three blocks, Addison Lyons tallied 10 assists and two aces and Kaci Poths registered seven assists. Tyler added five kills and two blocks and Addison Homan nabbed six digs. "The three seniors are a huge key to our season this year and they've been a huge key the last four years with the program," Snook said. "They work hard and they continue to set the standard high for the underclassmen and they want to keep practicing. They want to keep playing." Lakota 3, Margaretta 0 When the two teams met 15 days ago, Margaretta stomped its way to a decisive win in the first set before Lakota roared back. In the second semifinal Tuesday at the Monroeville Athletic Complex, there was no such magic for the fifth-seeded Polar Bears as Lakota rolled to a 25-12, 25-15, 25-11 win. Back on Sept. 30 at Lakota, the Raiders topped Margaretta, 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-15. "We took that first set and it wasn't like we barely beat them," Margaretta coach Sarah Kuns said. "We beat them by (12) points last time. The confidence should have been there. I think the serve reception errors - 20 of them - killed us. Our mistakes killed us and not being able to mentally recover from them." The Polar Bears (4-19) never got things going early. Lakota (14-9) was up 10-5 when it won the next nine points. A hitting error stopped the run, but the Raiders kept the foot on the pedal and Riley King's kill put Lakota up 1-0. Margaretta was slow out of the gate again in Set 2 and by the time it got going, it was too later. The Polar Bears were down 10-7 when Lakota again put a big run together. This time it was the next seven points to seize a 17-7 lead. The Polar Bears hung around that margin, but couldn't close the distance as Lakota went up 2-0. Margaretta got its best start to a set in Set 3, but trailed off late. The Polar Bears were up 7-3 after a service error, forcing a Raiders timeout. Margaretta was still up 9-8 later when Lakota took over. The Raiders raced off a 13-1 run to balloon their lead to 21-10. A hitting error briefly stopped Lakota, but Margaretta lost the last four points of the match - all on hitting errors - to end its season. "It was not our best hitting night, I'll say that," Kuns said. "But, Lakota blocked well. They got their hands on quite a few balls. We only had eight assists, which was not fantastic." The Polar Bears played without junior Kenadie Saylor. "Not having Kenadie is a big blow," Kuns said. "Not having Julia (Berg) is one blow. Not having Kenadie as a setter and a middle, those were hard spots I had to try to fill in. I lost two crucial positions with one person. How do I make that up and have them be confident out there playing?" Reagan Heck topped the Polar Bears with six kills while Ella Limberios had 10 digs. Ellie Young served up eight assists and Lillian Belak lined two kills. Heck, Ava Dickman, and Berg are the seniors for Margaretta. "The seniors did the best with what they could," Kuns said. "I'm proud of them for this season. They stepped up. Reagan was not meant to play middle. She's always been outside or right side and Ava has only ever floated in on the outside. That was a lot for them."