Monroeville rallies to edge SJCC in 5 sets

CLYDE — Just keep fighting. Earlier this month, Monroeville had overcome a 2-1 deficit to defeat St. Paul on the road in a massive Firelands Conference contest. The No. 5 Eagles faced that task again Monday and once again, dug deep for a stunning victory. Monroeville faced a tough Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic team in a Division VII district semifinal and came away with a 25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 25-17, 15-9 win at Clyde High School. Monroeville improved to 21-2 and will play No. 5 Mohawk (20-4) in Wednesday's district final at 6 p.m. back at Clyde High School. Mohawk topped the Eagles in five sets Aug. 23. "We have a lot of experience, period," Monroeville coach Kendra Snook said. "We have six seniors on the court and they don't want to lose. We practiced that a lot in practice this past week, being up 22-18 or being down 22-18. "We practice being able to overcome adversity and being able to finish sets." The fifth set was the first time all night the Eagles didn't jump out to a sizeable lead. A kill from Ady Adams and back-to-back aces from Alexa Adams gave Monroeville a 6-4 lead. SJCC (20-4) answered and tied the set at 7 on a Kamille Kayden ace. She then dumped a serve into the net before Riley Platte tallied a kill for a 9-7 lead. A block from Madison Reiber forced a Crimson Streaks timeout. After the break, Reiber scored a kill with a tip to extend the margin to 11-7. After a kill from SJCC, Haylee Morman made it 12-8 with a kill that prompted SJCC's second timeout. From there, Maddy Miller served up an ace and Reiber recorded two kills to secure the victory. "Ball control was the difference," SJCC coach Paul Grahl said. "We maybe got a little tight, so our passing was pulling our setter off the net. Then, you become predictable to defend and the shots by our hitters become a little more challenging." It was Monroeville's first match in nine days. "We scrimmaged last Monday against Columbian and Huron," Snook said. "We played a little bit. We were able to scrimmage against ourselves. We have a great core on the court, but we have a great core on the bench. Our JV was conference champions, too. "To be able to able to battle against each other on the court, it wasn't the game atmosphere. It was the competitiveness." The Eagles had a fight on their hands from the very beginning. Tied at 8, a block from Reiber started a run of four straight points for Monroeville. SJCC came right back and took a 14-13 lead, but the Eagles pushed through in the back half of the set. Four straight points by Monroeville gave the Eagles an 18-15 lead. The teams went back and forth until Monroeville led 24-20. Kayla Hessick clobbered three straight kills for the Crimson Streaks, but after a Monroeville timeout, a serving error on SJCC gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead. SJCC responded in Set 2. Monroeville raced out to a 7-3 advantage before the Crimson Streaks scored the next seven points. Three straight aces from Amaree Haralson forced a timeout from Snook. The Eagles never led again. Monroeville drew within one points afew times, but SJCC surged ahead 20-16. A kill from Makena Walyersziak tied the match at a set apiece. "We are an aggressive serving team," Grahl said. "We had over 300 aces on the year before tonight. We knew that was going to be an asset for us. I thought maybe we were a little jittery in the first set. We weren't able to hit our points." The Eagles again got a nice start in Set 3, going up 7-2 after a kill from Gabby Loose. SJCC responded though, using a run of five straight points to surge ahead 13-12. Monroeville never led again as the Crimson Streaks strung points together to pull ahead 22-15. The Eagles got within 23-21 after kills from Loose and Platte, but a kill from Isabelle Foos gave SJCC a 2-1 edge. "We had to be in system on serve receive," Snook said. "We didn't handle the ball, especially in Sets 2 and 3. We also had to identify where their setter was because we knew she was going to try to take over the match because she was that good." In Set 4, Monroeville got the lead early and kept it. An ace from Alexa Adams gave the Eagles an 8-3 lead. Monroeville never trailed the rest of the way and a run of five straight points made it 15-5. The teams exchanged points until consecutive kills from Reiber tied the match at two sets apiece. "Inexplicably, it seemed like we relaxed a little," Grahl said. "You can't relax in the postseason, period, much less against a team like Monroeville. I don't know if we thought the game was going to come to us. No way did we think it was going to be easy. It seemed like we lost that killer mindset." Kayla Hessick led the Crimson Streaks with 13 kills while Kayden, Haralson and Walyerszak each lined seven kills. Reiber finished with 17 kills while Ady Adams had 15 kills, 12 digs. Addison Homan registered 34 digs, Addison Lyons recorded 19 assists and Kaci Poths had 18 assists, 13 digs and four aces. Alexa Adams had 12 digs, seven kills and four aces. "St. Joe is a great team," Snook said. "They're probably one of the best serving teams we've played. They have some rocket serves. We knew they could go on on runs at any point. We didn't have that comfortable lead, but we also didn't allow them to go on any big runs. "That two or three point cushion was enough to get us through that match."