Bellevue defeats Edison in 5 sets

BELLEVUE — Bellevue coach Liana Petitti bore the burden for 24 hours. The Lady Red had a two sets-to-none lead over Edison before the Chargers came roaring back and forced a fifth set Tuesday. One night before, Bellevue was up 2-0 before losing in five sets on the road against a tough Willard squad. Against Edison, Bellevue rode the right arm of Finley LaPata in the fifth set, fending off the Chargers 27-25, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13 in Sandusky Bay Conference crossover action. "I even said to my assistant coach that I felt like I was watching yesterday all over again," Petitti said. "The difference today was we stayed way calmer in that fifth set. We had composure. We didn't try to play outside of ourselves. We did what we had been doing the whole match. We had some kids who finally stepped up and made the plays we needed them to make." LaPata had a match-high 22 kills for the Lady Red (4-2), including seven in the decisive fifth set. She tallied just two hitting errors on the night. "Finley is our kid," said Petitti of the junior. "This is not a new position for her. She's been one of our girls since her freshman year. She came in and was asked to play six rotations and that's the expectation for her. The expectation for her is fire because she has that experience. She's a very veteran player on our team. "We look to her and today, she showed up for us." LaPata went toe-to-toe with Edison's Macari Harris early in the fifth set. LaPata had five kills while Harris had three kills and a block as Bellevue went up 5-4. The Lady Red extended the lead to 8-5 on a kill from freshman Calie Cramer only for Edison (1-4) to tie the set multiple times. LaPata made it 13-12 on a kill, but a hitting error on Bellevue tied the set at 13. From there, a hitting error by the Chargers was followed by Edison's final timeout. Out of the break, LaPata took a big swing from the back row and the Chargers couldn't return it. Harris finished with 16 kills and four blocks. Her final kill tied the fifth set at 11, but she landed on the foot of a Bellevue player. After walking it off with a limp, she stayed in the match, doing what she could for her team. "I'm not sure how she'll feel like tomorrow, but it was the adrenaline going today," Edison coach Sean Hoover said. "She did a heck of a job." Despite not a wide margin, Bellevue was in firm control, taking the first two sets. In the opener, Edison led 21-19 after a combo block from Harris and Abby Cloud. Bellevue hung around, but the Chargers had set point up 24-23. A kill from Kaitlyn Turinsky tied the set. Later, a serving error from Edison and ace by Bellevue's Emma Krall put the Lady Red up 1-0. "Early, we missed way too many serves," Hoover said. "They had some rotations they couldn't get out of and we made it way too easy on them. At the end of the day, it probably should have never been in five. We have to clean those things up." In the second set, Kills from LaPata and Cramer helped the Lady Red go up 22-19. After a serving error, two more kills from LaPata and Mazie Gracemyer finished off an 8-1 Bellevue run to take a 2-0 lead. The Lady Red were in prime position to finish the match, going up 17-12 in the third set. Edison answered with the next eight points to seize a 20-17 lead after an ace from Stella Brown. The two teams battled and Bellevue went ahead 23-22 following consecutive kills from LaPata. But, two errors by Bellevue and a big block from Harris gave Edison the set and new life. "Edison played lights out," Petitti said. "Their libero did a phenomenal job. She picked up everything. For us, we lost focus several times. We had a couple five-point leads and that's something we're going to practice tomorrow. It's tough playing back-to-back nights because you don't have a lot of time to make adjustments." The Chargers carried that momentum into the fourth set and was up 17-12 after a combo block by Dana Preston and Ella Booth. Bellevue stayed within striking distance and took leads of 22-20 and 23-22. Harris tallied back-to-back kills and an ace from Taylor Moore evened the match at two sets apiece. "They're not going to quit," Hoover said. "They went out and fixed some things. We served better in Sets 3 and 4." Moore finished with 37 digs, crossing the 1,000 career digs in the fourth set. Brown added 20 digs, Preston had 13 kills and five digs, Paige McFadden tallied 24 assists and Peyton Bissell registered 14 assists. The early-season schedule has been brutal for Edison, having already faced Norwalk, Clyde, Mohawk, Monroeville and now Bellevue. "We've grown a ton from last year," Hoover said. "We do execute better. There's a lot of good things they do and they play with more confidence. They're not afraid to go make winning plays. Eventually we'll end up on the right side of these things." Turinsky lined 14 kills for Bellevue while Cramer had 12 kills. Kate Baptista had 17 digs, LaPata added 15 digs and Krall picked up 11 digs. Ellie Freitag registered 52 assists and 22 digs. That came one night after a career-high 54 assists against Willard. "Ellie is similar to Finley in that she's been asked to play a big role since her freshman year," Petitti said. "Her volleyball IQ has improved so much and her and I have such a great relationship. She's learning how I want the offense run even more. She usually knows it before I even say it to her."