2002 Tourney Recap

2002 Video Order Form - OHSAA Sanctioned Official Videos of the State Volleyball Matches. I ordered the Div I final and I am pleased with the quality. If you missed out on the matches, then I would highly recommend the Div I and Div IV finals. (I have no affiliation with TigerVision Digital Productions.)

Division IV Semifinals
Last Update 12-31-02

Marion Local over Centerburg 15-17,15-8,15-7

This was a match that Marion Local probably should have won in two games. Game one was so close to being in the bag at 13-8, but they could not finish Centerburg off. The Trojans clawed their way back to a 13 all tie and ML called timeout. The next rally produced a perfect pass that should have been set in the middle to 1st team All State MB Ami Stevens, but it went outside and was hit long. ML Margo Moeller crushed an overpass to make it 14-13 and Centerburg's Ami Stevens responded with a kill that landed inside the ten foot line to prevent a game point. Stevens then blocked for a point to tie it up at 14. We had several side outs and Moeller killed another overpass to lift ML to 15-14. Centerburg got a little lucky on this game point, as they sent a free ball over that dropped for a side out. Amber Keihl usually only plays the front row, went back to serve and put it in the corner of the corner for a true ace. 15 all. Her next serve was headed into the same place and was shanked off to make it 16-15 Centerburg. The Trojans got a game point kill following the last ML timeout. They managed to steal game one 17-15. 

Many times in Volleyball, that two game win turns into a three game loss. Marion Local managed to win the 2nd and 3rd games to make their 1st State final. Game two was tied at 4 and 8 before some timely kills from Erin Puthoff, who led all players with 22 kills in 40 swings, pulled ML to a 15-8 win. Both side made some nice defensive plays and ultimately ML's better ball control and balanced attack (4 players with 12 plus kills) were the deciding factors in their win. Game three was not as competitive as ML had 6-1, 8-3 and 13-4 leads before finishing it off at 15-7.

Norwalk St Paul over Old Fort 15-1,15-7

Both of these teams are 1st timers at state. I have heard about Norwalk St Paul rolling over teams this year. Undefeated... Did not lose any games... They only had 3 games that teams scored over 10 points... Sometimes teams get to state and play a little tight. Did St Paul struggle with nerves, after losing to Buckeye Central at districts in the last 3 years? NOT!  These girls are on a mission. Old Fort scored their first point at 13-0. Game one took about 16 minutes 15-1. Game two was almost as easy, as St Paul rolled to a 12-3 lead before Old Fort scored 4 straight on route to a 15-7 win. St Paul has a balanced team led by a terrific setter, Angie Camp. They pass well enough to give her plenty of options that she has the skills to take advantage of. This was the kind of match that brings you back on schedule.

Norwalk St Paul over Marion Local 9-15,15-13,15-13
I think that this will be a nice match. I want to see how St Paul reacts to being in a tight match. It's easy to be loose and swing away when the score is 13-4, but how about 12-12. I hope that this will be a great final.

Great final to start the day. 

OHSAA Division IV Final Four Stats

Arcticferret All Tourney Team

Division III Semifinals

Huron over Zoarsville Tuscarawas Valley 15-13,15-5
Both of these teams are state tournament veterans. Huron has been here the last four years, winning in 1999 and runner-up in 2000. Tusky Valley has been here the last three, and five of the last six years with a runner-up finish in 2001. Huron jumped out to a 5-0 lead, before Tusky Valley clawed back to within one at 5-4. Both teams had some early service errors. Sarah Wilber blocked for a point shortly before play was stopped at 7-4 Huron for about five minutes, as MB Ashley Cundiff of Huron sprained her ankle and had to be helped off the court. Tusky Valley managed to retake the lead and forge ahead 10-8 behind the a few kills by Amanda Hartline, Kira Redinger and some shanked passes. Huron responded with a dump by setter Megan Borgelt, a kill by Amanda Fox, a block and kill by Sarah Wilbur to go ahead 12-10. The game was tied again at 12 before a dink out of bounds and service reception into the net gave Huron a 14-12 lead. All Stater Kira Redinger blocked Wilber to SO and a shanked service reception brought the score to 14-13. Game one ended on a spike by Amanda Fox to a dig that was called a double hit. Huron kept their momentum going in game two as they raced to a 5-1 lead, Tusky Valley burned their second timeout at 9-3 and lost another point to an illegal substitution at 11-5. Huron quickly closed out the match with the last 4 points. Huron made their third final in four years.



Sidney Lehman Catholic over Girad 9-15,15-9,15-7
I have heard about Tealle Hunkus, but never seen her play. She made All Ohio 1st team for the last 2 years. She is headed to Duke to play next year. A balanced team usually can beat one great player. SLC did not have an answer for Tealle Hunkus in game one. A combination of SLC errors and Hunkus hitting from the middle, outside, back row led to a 15-9 game one win for Girad. Game two was closely fought back and forth until the score was tied at 9. SLC pulled away on a couple of kills by Ashley Newcomer and a block of Hunkus to 14-9, before a shanked serve receive tied the match at one game apiece. Game three was again close early and tied at 7. A few bad passes and some kills by Amy Edwards, Melissa Robbins and Ashley Newcomer pushed SLC up 12-7. An Emily Hodges dink and a few long spikes by Hunkus closed out the match. Tealle Hunkus did not disappoint. Girad set her almost every play even when she was in the back row. She finished the match with 29 kills on 87 swings. She had quite a few errors, mostly long, but she was rarely blocked. It was one of the most impressive single player performances that I have seen at the state tournament.

Huron over Sidney Lehman Catholic 15-11,15-9
This was a rematch from the final 2 years ago, when SLC capped off a 30-0 season beating Huron 15-10,16-14. This season SLC had 6 losses coming into this match, which does not sound to impressive, until you examine who they lost to: Marion Local twice, St Henry, Dayton CJ, Kettering Alter and Vandalia Butler. Huron only had 2 losses, to Div IV State Champ Norwalk St Paul and Div I regional qualifier Whitehouse Anthony Wayne. 

The teams had dominant offensive performances by SLC's Ashley Newcomer and Huron's Sarah Wilber. SLC took a 2-0 lead in game one, before giving up 9 unanswered points. This run was a combination of Huron kills by All State Sarah Wilber, Susan Folger and quite a few errors by SLC. Huron widened the lead to 11-4 before SLC fought back behind a couple of Aces, some illegal sets (quite a few were called in this match) ,to only trail 12-11. Huron managed to close out the match 15-11 on another bad set call. 
Game two started out remarkably similar to game one, SLC takes 2-0 lead and Huron then goes on a 9 point run. Sarah Wilber was terrific in this game. SLC closed the gap to 9-5 on a couple of Ashley Newcomer SO kills and some serve receive errors. Ashley Cundiff, who was injured in the semis, served an Ace as Huron scored the next 4 points behind a Wilbur kill and block for a point. A rare Wilbur attack error gave SLC a point to close to 13-6. Huron got to match point on a lift call from an overpass attack (another questionable call). Newcomer managed a sideout and 3 Huron hitting errors made the score 14-9. Huron blocked for a point to make it 15-9. 

This ends a fantastic 4 year run for Huron, that includes a 100-15 record, 2 state titles and one runner-up trophy in 4 state tourney appearances. Not to shabby! The common denominator for all these state trips was Sarah Wilber but, Huron returns a talented setter and a good core of supporting players so 5 in a row is not out of the question.

OHSAA Division III Final Four Stats

Arcticferret All Tourney Team

Sarah Wilber	Huron	MVP
Megan Bolgelt  Kari Fink  Ashley Newcomer  Amy Edwards  Tealle Hunkus  Amanda Hartline  Kira Redinger	Huron Huron Sidney Lehman Catholic Sidney Lehman Catholic. Girad Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley

Division II Semifinals

Kettering Archbishop Alter over  Norwalk 15-4,15-1

Norwalk had a terrific run to get to States. They were 7-6 at one point this year and were riding a 14 match win streak and are led by All Ohio 1st teamer Victoria Kasten. Alter has been a good team for several years now. Last year their only 3 losses came at the hands of one team, the Div II state champion St Bernard Roger Bacon. They had 3 more matches with Roger Bacon this year. Roger Bacon won the 1st match at home 15-5,15-10. Alter's breakthrough match was the 20th of the season, at home versus Roger Bacon. They were down 11-3 in the 3rd after splitting the 1st two games by identical 16-14 scores. Roger Bacon did not score another point, and the other 2002 Div II State Qualifiers kind of know how that feels. The 3rd match was at Wilmington, in a regional final and Alter left no doubt winning in 2 games 15-10,16-14. Welcome to the state tournament.

Norwalk ran into a focused team with some incredible talent. Juniors Carrie DeMange, Ali Hausfeld and Senior Jenna Miller all played on a Dayton Juniors 17-1 club team that finished 3rd in the nation in the open Junior Olympic division last summer. Ali is a terrific setter, who at 6'0" tall can block effectively and has nice hands. Carrie DeMange is a 6'1" MB who hits the hardest ball of any girl that I have seen in Ohio this year. Both Ali and Carrie were recently named in StudentSports top 50 volleyball prospects in the Class of 2004. Jenna Miller is a 5'10" MB/OH who has signed with TCU. She was slighted in the recently announced All Ohio teams. I thought that she was the big difference maker in the regional final win over Roger Bacon. Here is a  profile of Jenna at rollshot.com.

The match was over quickly. Norwalk and Alter traded the first 3 points of game 1 before succumbing to the cool efficiency of Alter. Norwalk could not adjust to the quickness of Alter's attack. Ali Hausfeld mixed up her sets well enough to give her hitters single and sometimes no block to contend with. Carrie DeMange was unstoppable. She hit ones, twos, slides and back ones to the tune of 16 kills, that usually bounced pretty high off of the floor. Norwalk was only able to score 1 more point in each game.


Millersburg West Holmes over Mentor Lake Catholic 15-12,9-15,15-9
Both teams were semifinal losers at last years state tournament. MLC was a young team last year and probably expected to return. West Holmes lost 5 senior starters from last year, yet still managed an undefeated regular season. Jessica Sabath might be the best high school passer that I have seen. A coach told me that she grew up playing beach volleyball with her mom. It sure worked. Game One started with a few MLC errors and a kill apiece for All Ohio players Lindsey Piar and Tristen Dye, that led to a 5-0 lead for West Holmes. MLC scored the next 3 points before West Holmes jumped out to an 11-5 lead. MLC managed to tie the score back up at 11 with several kills by Vaiva Laniavskas and a blocked overpass by Sabath. West Holmes finished off game one by scoring points off a block by Dye and McDowell, MLC bad pass, Kill by Piar, and a double hit by MLC after being blocked. I thought that the MLC setter made a mistake by not getting the ball to Sabath enough in the late stages of this game. 

MLC came out smoking in game two, as they built up a 6-0 lead behind 2 aces by Allie Kuhar. The game looked like a blowout at 12-3, until a late West Holmes rally brought them to 14-9. Jessica Sabath evened the match with a kill to make it 15-9. West Holmes charged out 6-1 and 13-5 leads in game three before a Dye kill brought them into their first state final at 15-9. The trio of Dye, Piar and Trisha Uhl combined for 60 of West Holmes 62 kills. This was a close match that could have been won by MLC with a few less missed serves and a different defensive formation. They were the only team in the tournament that played man up defense. It seemed like that cost them a few points.

Kettering Archbishop Alter over Millersburg West Holmes 15-1,15-0
Wow! Alter was impressive. They faced an undefeated team who had only lost 4 games all year and just dominated them. West Holmes tied the score at 1-1 with a block, and that was it. Once again, Carrie DeMange was fantastic, 14 kills in 17 swings with no errors. Everyone on Alter's team hit at an amazing percentage (Click on the OHSAA link below for the stats). This was the fewest points given up by a team ever in any State Tournament match, in any division. The old record was in 1976, Frankfort Adena over Milford Center Fairbanks 15-4,15-1 in the Class A (small school) final. Alter only gave up 6 points for the entire tournament. There were only three seniors on these two squads, so I would not be surprised to see them both back next year.

OHSAA Division II Final Four Stats

Arcticferret All Tourney Team

Carrie DeMange	Kettering Archbishop Alter	MVP
Ali Hausfeld  Jenna Miller  Tristen Dye  Lindsey Piar  Jessica Sabath  Vaiva Laniavskas Victoria Kasten	Kettering Archbishop Alter Kettering Archbishop Alter Millersburg West Holmes Millersburg West Holmes Mentor Lake Catholic Mentor Lake Catholic Norwalk

Division I Semifinals

Cincinnati Ursuline Academy over Mentor 15-1,15-1
Megan Skouby is the tallest high school volleyball player that I have ever seen. She is a 6'6" sophomore MB for Mentor and she made the all state team. She blocked a ball to score the first point in the Division I semifinal vs. Cincinnati Ursuline Academy. Twenty six points later Mentor finally scored their second and final point. Ursuline played a fantastic match against a Mentor team that surprisingly qualified for the state tournament. Their seven losses were the most of any of the 16 teams playing at state. Mentor's nice tournament run were all 2 game victories. Carli Reihman and Erin Kanetzke led a balanced Ursuline attack with 7 kills each. Jeanna Staun is another terrific all around player who deserved state recognition.  She is a 5'10" Junior with a good vertical, who pounds the ball from the outside. She scored the first 9 points for Ursuline with an  effective jump serve. She is a good passer and played as well as, if not better, than her All Ohio teammates at state and the regional game that I attended.  I realize that it is not possible to have 4 team members with all Ohio honors, but she is part of the  reason that they dominate most of their opponents.

Cincinnati St Ursula Academy over Toledo St Ursula Academy 15-13,15-5
Expectations color our perceptions. TSUA knows about expectations. They were undefeated and expected to win the state last year. They lost in the semifinals in two games to Cincinnati Ursuline Academy. Coming into this year no one expected TSUA to get back to state, but they had a terrific season. This year they have exceeded expectations. CSUA has won 7 state titles since 1993. They won their first big school title last year as a sophmore laden team. They are currently ranked #2 in the nation by Student Sports. They beat last years Student Sports national champs Louisville Assumption in three games earlier this year. They won the Mizuno Cup tournament in Chicago by beating the 3rd and 4th ranked Chicago area teams on the way to the title. Their only loss was to 2001 state champ St Bernard Roger Bacon. Most people expect CSUA to win the state, not only this year, but next year as well and contend for the national title.
Fast forward to game one, the score is 13-4 for TSUA. Could Coach Perry's 14 match state tournament win streak be in jeopardy? Not so fast, Beth Shelton stepped back to serve and got a service winner for the 1st point in a stretch that will bring CSUA back into the game. Beth Gillming and Maggie Schmelzle each had a couple of kills during this comeback run. Colleen Slattery finally stopped the Shelton serving streak with a kill and TSUA still had the lead 13-11. CSUA got the serve right back with another kill by Gillming and the game was tied up at 13 all after TSUA hit 2 balls out. Kill Gillming 14-13, Ace by All State setter Bryn Kehoe and CSUA wins game one 15-13. The big Mo continued with CSUA in the 2nd game as they raced out to a 11-0 lead. TSUA finally ended the 22 point run on a CSUA error to make it 11-1. The score was 14-1 before CSUA closed it out at 15-5.

Cincinnati Ursuline Academy over Cincinnati St Ursula Academy 11-15,15-8,15-13
What a great match. 

OHSAA Division I Final Four Stats

Arcticferret All Tourney Team

Kelly Byrnes	Cin Ursuline Academy	MVP
Jeanna Staun  Carli Reihman  Erin Kanetzke Bryn Kehoe  Beth Shelton  Beth Gillming  Maggie Schmelzle  Sarah Florian	Cin Ursuline Academy Cin Ursuline Academy Cin Ursuline Academy Cin St Ursula Academy Cin St Ursula Academy Cin St Ursula Academy Cin St Ursula Academy Tol St Ursula Academy