Monroeville tops Mohawk in epic 5-set district final

CLYDE — If they gave out rings for district titles, Kendra Snook's two hands would be completely full. Facing a Mohawk team that topped Snook's Monroeville team earlier this season, the Eagles got a bit of revenge Wednesday. The No. 5 Eagles picked up their 10th district title under Snook, defeating No. 8 Mohawk 25-16, 25-20, 14-25, 14-25, 15-12 in a Division VII district championship classic at Clyde High School. "It never gets old and it's a new group of kids, so it's always special," Snook said. "The first one was special because it was the first time it ever happened. The second one, the same thing. Every single one I kind of remember a little bit differently. "I've never had a kid go down in a district match and we have to overcome and have to pull out a new lineup. So, this one I'll definitely remember as well." Monroeville improved to 22-2 after their 20th straight win. The Eagles will play in a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. next Thursday at Burton Berkshire High School. "This feels great. I love it," Eagles senior Alexa Adams said. "I love every single thing about it." Monroeville won the first two sets with relative easy before the Warriors (20-5) answered with the next two sets. Things were tight early in the fifth set. The teams split the first 12 points before Monroeville won four straight points. Madison Reiber had two kills while Addison Lyons and Riley Platte each stuffed blocks for the Eagles. "Especially on a good team, if you can get a two- or three-point little pad in a big match like this, it's huge," Snook said. "Then you can play some side-out volleyball and just trade points. To be able to push those points and go up by four was really big for us. I think the kids were confident that what we were doing was going to be successful." Mohawk got its top hitter, Biz Klopp, back on the floor in rotation and made things tight. She smacked one of her massive kills before a hitting error by the Eagles cut the deficit to 10-9. Lyons and Reiber each lined kills to make it 12-9. Klopp stuffed a block to start an exchange of points. Ady Adams lined a kill to make it 14-11, Klopp answered for Mohawk and Alexa Adams pounded her final kill of the night to seal the win for Monroeville. "Our message was to relax and have some fun again," Snook said. "We played really tight in Sets 3 and 4. All credit to Mohawk. Not only was Biz getting the job done, their other hitters were too. That really got us on our heels, but we shored up that defense in Set 5." The Warriors defeated Monroeville 16-25, 25-12, 19-25, 25-22, 15-6 back on Aug. 23. "Ultimately, that's a state final four caliber match," Mohawk coach Eric Hoover said. "It just happens to happen here. We've had a lot of good ones with them. We figured this was going to be one. I was proud of how we fought back. Being down 2-0 is pretty tough. I'm happy with the way we played there and at least made them earn it." Mohawk led 9-5 early in the first set before Monroeville got rolling. Haylee Morman swatted a block before Reiber tallied a kill. Consecutive aces by Lyons and a kill from Morman gave the Eagles a 12-9 lead. The teams exchanged points from there until Mohawk drew within 16-15 after a kill from Jayla Huffman and a hitting error on Monroeville. From there, the Eagles won the next eight points. Ady Adams registered three kills and a block before Alexa Adams served up back-to-back aces. A serving error only halted Monroeville briefly before a block from Ady Adams put the Eagles up 1-0. Neither team was able to gain separation in Set 2 until Monroeville did late. Ahead just 18-17, a hitting error on Mohawk was followed by a kill from Alexa Adams. The Eagles then pushed ahead 24-19 when Ady Adams lined a kill and Lyons stuffed a block. After a serving error, Ady Adams put down another kill to push the Eagles up 2-0. In Set 3, Mohawk got out to a fast start and didn't let up. The Warriors went up 9-3 after two kills from Mara Haynes. Monroeville never got its footing in the set. The Eagels clawed within 12-9, but Mohawk answered with a 7-1 run. Monroeville drew as close as 20-14, but the Warriors scored the last five points of the set. Haynes clobbered two more kills to get Mohawk within 2-1. The Warriors carried that momentum into the fourth set. They raced out to a 5-1 lead. Kaci Poths, celebrating her birthday, went for the dig on a Klopp kill, but took the brunt of the fall. She was out for the rest of the match, forcing the Eagles to adjust on the fly. "Losing Kaci in Set 4 and just having to plug in and play was a little tough for us," Snook said. "We were probably over on the sideline anticipating a fifth set and trying to come up with what was going to be most successful for us." Monroeville made a run, but Mohawk was able to win points in bunches to build on its lead. A kill from Haynes and hitting error by Monroeville tied the match at two sets apiece. "I think serving-wise, we were really aggressive the first two sets and Mohawk struggled to pass the ball on serve receive," Snook said. "They really shored up their serve receive in Sets 3 and 4. That got us out of system. "We were giving them a lot of free balls and easy balls for them to get it to their hitters a little bit faster and more efficiently." Klopp finished with 18 kills for Mohawk in her final high school match. She's the school's all-time leader in kills with 1,632 career kills. "Our game plan from practice was just like Where's Waldo? Where's Biz?" Snook said. "We never wanted to lose track of her because you're never going to stop a player like Biz Klopp. She is very good and very efficient. She's very tall and jumps well. We wanted to get some touches on her and dig a few balls." Ady Adams finished with 19 kills, 12 digs and three blocks while Alexa Adams tallied 16 digs, 14 kills and four aces. Reiber lined 13 kills, Platte tallied seven blocks and three kills and Lyons had 27 assists and four aces. Addison Homan led the defense with 32 digs, Poths added 15 assists and Maddy Miller registered 12 digs. "All credit to Mohawk. They're a great team," Snook said. "We've played them twice this year and we've played 10 sets. We're obviously very even. They're very well-coached. Biz is a phenomenal player."