St. Paul swept by Miller City in regional semifinals

ELIDA — St. Paul never got into the match. Leads for the Flyers throughout the night were few and far between. Miller City overwhelmed St. Paul 25-19, 25-22, 25-13 in a Division VII regional semifinal Thursday at the Elida Fieldhouse. "It was what we expected, for sure," St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. "We knew they were going to be a good team and they had some weapons across the front line. We unfortunately didn't have our best game. We didn't settle in and we didn't really relax and play like we have all year. That makes a big difference." The Flyers finished the season with a record of 19-7. This season was the second straight district title for St. Paul. "On the whole, this team has been so much fun," Kalizewski said. "They came in every day and we have fun, but they're always down to work. It's fun with work all the time, which is what you want. You crave that relaxed atmosphere. We did some great things this year." It was the Flyers' first match in eight days. St. Paul had seven days between its first and second matches of the season, but doing it late in the season proved to be too much to overcome. "It's not great," Kalizewski said. "Everybody has talked about it, but the long travel is difficult. We did it twice and it's part of the game. It is what it is. It's part of the game, but it does make it tough to have to travel like that, plus have eight days off. "You're at the point of the season where you can only do so much." The teams played fairly even over the first half of Set 1. The Wildcats (20-6) started to build on their lead and was up 15-11 after an ace from St. Paul's Annie Friend. From there, Miller City won the next four points, capped on consecutive kills by Savanna Niese. Down 19-11, the Flyers showed fight, taking the next four points. Ella Kalizewski had an ace and back row kill for St. Paul to get within 19-15. The Flyers couldn't get any closer as Miller City answered. The teams exchanged points until a kill from Ava Reichley pushed St. Paul down 1-0. "We've been pretty good about (playing from behind), but when you get a good team with multiple weapons across the front, it's harder to settle in," coach Kalizewski said. "I feel like we got anxious instead of capitalizing on the little things, which we normally do." The Flyers finally got their first lead of the match in Set 2 and even led 6-3 following two errors on Miller City. The Wildcats responded and used a surge to go up 13-8. Coach Kalizewski faded using a timeout, but no matter what she did, Miller City had the response. Each time St. Paul had a little momentum, the Wildcats were there to go toe-to-toe. Miller City build a 24-18 lead following a block by Gemma Otto, but St. Paul fended off set points to stay live. The Flyers won four straight points, but Cloe Kuhlman's kill gave Miller City a 2-0 lead. Things went from bad to worse for the Flyers in the third set. St. Paul was up 2-1 early before the Wildcats ripped off eight straight points. Three straight kills by Niese aided the Miller City run. Not much went right for the Flyers in Set 3 as the Wildcats went up 15-4 on a Sophia Ruck ace. St. Paul struggled to get offense going all night as Miller City was stout defensively. Two hitting errors by the Flyers finished off the win for the Wildcats. "We knew they were big and obviously, we're not super big," coach Kalizewski said. "I feel like we usually play bigger than we are, but we had to figure a way around that. I didn't feel like we settled in and played defense as well as we normally do. I didn't think we settled in, but rather were turning and looking a little more." Kalizewski finished with 10 kills and seven digs while Brooklyn Cassidy added 18 digs and seven kills. Friend contributed 24 assists and 10 digs while Lily Cuturic had 15 digs. Bella Guerra, Cuturic, Shealyn Deeter, Teagen Mansfield-Bush and Kegney Stoll are seniors for St. Paul. "They've been great," coach Kalizewski said. "We're losing five great kids. We want them to take these skills and become strong, independent women. That's the goal. Volleyball is a bonus. Getting to play and do something we all love is good, but they have great futures ahead of them."