TROY — The Lehman Lady Cavaliers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 25-15, 21-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-9 win over county rival Russia and capture a Division 4 district championship in action Saturday at Troy.
Lehman, 16-10, will play defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Jackson Center in a Brookville D-3 Regional semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Brookville High School.
Saturday was Lehman’s second straight five set win after not going five sets all year.
“The kids just really stepped up,” Lehman coach Greg Snipes said.
Russia coach Aaron Watkins, while disappointed with the loss, feels like the Lady Raiders began to change the culture of the program.
“Definitely,” he said. “You never want to look towards next year, but we are building something here. We want to be here in the district tournament every year and this was a start. I’m so proud of the season the girls put together. They gave it their all today and that’s all I can ask for. I’m looking forward to this being the new standard for Russia volleyball.”
Russia actually held a 5-4 lead early in the fifth set after a kill by Claudia Counts. But Lauren Larger had a kill and Madison Hussey served three straight points to make it 8-5.
“We just never recovered after that,” Watkins said.
Lehman had rolled through the first set to win 25-15, before a complete reversal in the next two sets.
The blocking and tipping of Russia, led by Cameo Wilson and Christina Gaerke, combined with the defense and serving of Whitney Pleiman swung the momentum.
“Tipping and blocking was our game plan coming in,” Watkins said. “I didn’t think we did a good job of that in the first set, but we did in the next two sets.”
Lehman rallied from a 17-11 deficit in the second set to tie it at 18. But at 22-21 Russia scored on a missed serve and Pleiman served out the set with tips from Counts and Laurissa Poling.
In the third set, Russia had a 24-17 lead, when Alexis Snipes served six straight points to make it 24-23. That included two kills by Chapman. Russia won the set, but the momentum had swung.
“I think that’s what got us,” Watkins said. “We had such a hard time finishing off that set.”
For Lehman, Chapman pounded 36 kills and Ellie Scott had six. Snipes dished out 28 assists and Lauren McFarland had 22.
Madison Hussey led the defense with 25 digs.
For the Lady Raiders, who finish the season 14-12, Wilson had 14 kills, Poling 12, Chris Gaerke eight and Morgan Wenrick seven. Jenna Cordonnier set them up with 38 assists.
Whitney Pleiman broke her own school record for digs in a match, finishing with 43. That also put hear over 1,000 digs for her career.
Chloe Sherman added 21 digs, Lexi Monnin had 18 and Katie Swartz finished with 10.
Jackson 3, Cin. Christian 0
TROY — Jackson Center cruised to another easy tournament win, dominating Cincinnati Christian 3-0 in another district final on Saturday.
The scores were 25-9, 25-6, 25-4, and it gave the Lady Tigers a perfect 26-0 record going into regional semifinal play on Wednesday at Brookville at approximately 7:30 against county rival Lehman.
Jackson Center was led by senior standout Cassie Meyer again. She had 15 kills, five aces and three blocks.
Alicia Kessler added five aces to go with four kills, Camryn Hoehne had four kills and Kamryn Elchert finished with 20 assists.
The Lady Tigers have yet to be tested in the postseason, but head coach Kim Metz isn’t concerned.
“Practices have been pretty intense over the last week,” she said. “What we’re getting in practice keeps the bar raised and keeps us moving forward.”
In the 12 games of their four tournament matches so far, the Lady Tigers have held their opponent under 10 points in 10 of them.
JC tickets — Jackson Center is selling tickets for Wednesday’s regional semifinals today through Wednesday at the school during school hours. The Lady Tigers will play the second game.
Anna 3, Williamsburg 0
BROOKVILLE — The Anna Lady Rockets advanced to the Division 3 Regional tournament this week after capturing a district championship Saturday at Brookville against Williamsburg, 3-0.
The scores were 25-15, 25-23, 25-19 and the victory upped the Lady Rockets’ record on the year to 16-10. They will take on Utica on Thursday at Kettering Fairmont High School in the regional semifinals. Utica finished the season ranked No. 7 in the final coaches poll, and enters Thursday’s game with a 25-1 record.
That loss was to Newark Catholic, the team Utica beat 3-1 in the district finals Saturday.
The other semifinal pits No. 16-ranked Miami East against Versailles, which was ranked No. 9.
Kerista Gehret had another big game for the Lady Rockets, pounding out 20 kills. Kennedey Glover added eight.
Kelsey Meyer served three aces and Lexi Wells two, and Carly Becker led the defense with 15 digs. Rachel Shoemaker added 11 and Meyer 10. Meyer also had three blocks assists, and Wells 32 assists.
Williamsburg entered game with only one loss, but the Lady Rockets dominated.
“I think sometimes our girls like being the underdog,” said Anna head coach Kelli Barhorst, who is taking her team to the regional for the second year in a row. “I think we’re playing our best right now. The girls have definitely stepped it up. I thought the last two or three games of the regular season, it’s like they realized now was the time to pick it up because from her on out, it’s one-and-done.”
Loramie 3, MV Christian 0
TROY — Like Anna, Fort Loramie’s record was not as good as its opponent, the Lady Redskins going in with a 16-8 mark to face 19-3 Miami Valley Christian Academy Saturday in a D-4 district final at Troy.
But also like Anna, that made no difference, the Lady Redskins cruising to an easy 3-0 win on scores of 25-11, 25-7, 25-7.
The win puts the now 17-8 Lady Redskins in the regional semifinals on Wednesday at Brookville against the neighboring New Breman Lady Cardinals at 6 p.m. The two teams met way back on Aug. 27 at New Bremen, and the host team came out on top 3-1.
