Spiketacular gives area teams valuable court time

SANDUSKY — There were encouraging signs for Norwalk. At the same time, the Truckers are looking for consistency. Norwalk picked up wins over Huron and Monroeville on Tuesday at the Summer Spiketacular at Cedar Point Sports Center in Sandusky. But, the Truckers were on the wrong side of tough losses to New Lexington and Meadowbrook. Norwalk went 4-4 over the two days, finishing in the semifinals of the Gold Bracket. "There was no quit," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "That's a positive point that at this point in July, they're showing you they're not going to quit. They're going to be relentless. I think we're looking for, as we travel down the road into the season, to finetune things and get more consistent." Against Meadowbrook in the semifinals, the Truckers were within 14-13 on a Maddie Gamble kill in the first set. Norwalk didn't have quite enough to bring it back even as Meadowbrook answered with the next five points. The Truckers clawed within 22-20, but Meadowbrook finished strong to jump ahead early. Norwalk never got the momentum going in the second set. It was just 8-4 when Meadowbrook put together a 10-2 run to go up 18-6. The Truckers struggled a bit offensively and ended the day 2-2. "You come into an event like this and you know you're going to see good team after good team after good team," Kipp said. "Meadowbrook was just very consistent and relentless on defense. Our kids competed, but I think we just ran out of gas." Norwalk opened the day with a 25-18, 25-23 win over Huron before topping Monroeville in the bracket quarterfinals, 25-15, 16-25, 16-14. The Eagles had match point up 14-13 in Set 3, but Sydney Moehlman tied the set at 14 before a hitting error gave Norwalk match point. The Truckers converted as Ainslee King clobbered a kill to eliminate Monroeville. Norwalk is soaking up as much time on the court as it can this summer in an effort to replace all-Ohioans Lucy Schlotterer and Mac Wineman. "I think when you graduate kids that have been on your floor for four years, we graduated a ton of leadership," Kipp said. "We're looking for that to emerge. Both of those kids were really, really loud with their leadership styles, especially Mac. That's an adjustment to what it looks like on the floor without that loud leadership. "Who's going to step up? We see it in kids, but it looks different." St. Paul bounces back After a tough Monday that saw the Flyers go winless in four matches, St. Paul responded by going 3-1 on Tuesday. The Flyers defeated Defiance, Canton GlenOak and Orrville before losing to GlenOak in the Bronze semifinals. "I'll be honest. I thought we ran out of gas," St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. "We played back-to-back and it's July. You're just not in that kind of condition yet. I'm proud of our kids. They worked really hard and we did really well." The semifinal meeting against GlenOak was the third time the two teams played in less than 24 hours. The Golden Eagles got the better of St. Paul on Monday before the Flyers won in straight sets earlier Tuesday. St. Paul used a 25-11 win in Game 2 to help itself finish first in the redrawn pools. The Flyers only graduated one player - setter Kristin Matlack - from last year's state semifinal team. Annie Friend has stepped into the position and run the St. Paul offense well. The Flyers played the two days without Brooklyn Cassidy, who was at a volleyball camp. "It's always hard coming off of a season we had last year," Kalizewski said. "You have to be able to settle in. Even though we only lost one player, we have a lot of inexperience. We're missing Brooklyn this weekend. Kristin graduated last year and I thought Annie did a fabulous job settling in. "It takes time for everybody to get used to one another." The Flyers were just a step off the beat Monday, losing a few tight matches that easily could have went their way. St. Paul responded in a tough situation Tuesday. The Flyers easily could have packed it up and gotten ready for the Ashland team camp they're attending this weekend. Instead, they fought and competed against tough competition. "We have resilience," Kalizewski said. "They know they have to trust the process and not stop playing with each other and for one another. That's something that group did so well last year. You have to move on and move to the next point. "We could've come in here and done the same thing. We didn't do that. We came in fresh and knew we were better than what we showed." Monroeville finishes 6-1 The Eagles were one of the small fish in a big pond Tuesday. After going a combined 6-0 in pool play, Monroeville drew a familiar team in Norwalk, a school four divisions bigger than the Eagles. Monroeville was in it until the very end, but the Truckers escaped with a 25-15, 16-25, 16-14 win. "In the first set, I thought we came out really strong with energy," Monroeville coach Kendra Snook said. "All of a sudden, we did some silly things and the set got away from us and we couldn't recover. I thought in the second set, we really found that energy and excitement. It was probably the most fun I think the kids have had all week. They were talking and playing with that excitement." In Set 3, the Eagles led 8-4 after an Ady Adams kill and later extended the lead to 10-5. Norwalk responded with a 6-1 run to knot the set at 11. It was also tied at 12 and 13 before the Eagles missed out on a chance to end it with a match point. Kills from Norwalk's Sydney Moehlman and Ainslee King ended Monroeville's day. The two teams will scrimmage in August and play in the regular season in September. "In the third set, we had a little bit of a lead," Snook said. "We didn't give up that lead from us doing anything. Norwalk put the pressure on and they earned those points. It was a great match, especially in July." The Eagles opened the day with a 25-14, 25-23 win over Marlington. Things got significantly tougher for Monroeville in its final pool play game against Triway. The Eagles fended off two match points in Set 3 before taking it 18-16 to finish pool play undefeated. "A lot of those matches, we were up decent and let those teams back in," Snook said. "In years past, those would be matches or sets we would lose. It was nice to hold our composure and find ways to win those types of sets. They're a veteran squad, so we hope they had learned and matured. The next step is once we get a lead to finish and not let teams back in." Monroeville has a nice array of hitters. During a five-point run against Norwalk in Set 2, Gabby Loose, Ady Adams, Haylee Morman and Riley Platte each tallied a kill while Addison Lyons served up an ace. That doesn't include Alexa Adams (256 kills last year) or Madison Reiber (240 kills last year). "I think right now we're really balanced," Snook said. "I think all six hitters can score. My three defensive players can all pass the ball and be in system. I think all of my servers are serving aggressively and both setters are doing great. "I think right now we're a very well-rounded team that still has room for improvement." Huron struggles on Day 2 The Tigers have played volleyball on eight of the last nine days and it started to show Tuesday. Huron lost senior leader Maggie Orzech to a knee injury in its first match of the day and limped to a 1-3 record, finishing the Summer Spiketacular overall at 4-4. "It gave other people an opportunity to show me a couple of things," said Huron coach Don Wood of Orzech's injury halfway through the first set against Norwalk. "Who knows? In the regular season, we might lose someone. I got a chance to see a couple people in the spur of the moment jump in and play where they haven't in a while. We got something out of a negative." The Truckers topped Huron 25-18, 25-23. In Set 2, the Tigers led 19-14, but Norwalk tied the match at 22. It was also tied at 23 before a service error aided the Truckers in finishing off the win. "It's a good chance for kids who are maybe on the edge of making the varsity squad," said Wood of the two days. "You want to see how they do against a top-quality opponent. We had to test out our fitness level a little bit too." Huron then lost to St. Henry before beating Bellevue in the quarterfinals of the Silver Bracket. In the semifinals, the Tigers were up against it facing Wheelersburg and the Pirates rolled to a 25-17, 25-18 win. After such a busy last eight days, Wood hoped his team would take advantage of two days off before playing in the third and final Spiketacular that starts Friday. He's hoping for renewed energy and a strong finish to the summer season for the Tigers. "Looking at that last match, we definitely hit that wall," Wood said. "They've given us so much time and effort over the last eight days, I can't have any complaints." Bellevue continues to fight Despite a 1-2 record Tuesday, the Lady Red gained more traction. Bellevue dispatched Triway before a tough 18-16 third set loss to Marlington in its final pool play game. And while the Lady Red were on the wrong end of a Silver Bracket loss to Huron to end the day, there was improvement in coach Liana Petitti's eyes. "Over the two-day experience, there was a lot of opportunity to see areas where our team can grow and improve," she said. "We also got to see a variety of players competing, which is great with August being just around the corner." Bellevue has five key seniors to replace and doing that will come with time. The Lady Red were district semifinalists last year and hope to be in the thick of the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division race in September and October. "There was a lot of great competition, which always helps us when thinking about the teams we will play in our conference," Petitti said.