Staff report
It was a good day for Shelby County volleyball teams Saturday, with four bringing back district championships and qualifying for this week’s regional tournament.
Anna, Lehman, Jackson Center and Fort Loramie all kept their seasons alive with wins in district play at Troy and Tipp City.
Division 3:
Anna defeats
Roger Bacon 3-0
TIPP CITY — The Anna Lady Rockets won 3-0 over Cincinnati Roger Bacon to advance to the regional tournament this week in Kettering. The scores were 28-26, 25-16, 25-19, and the win upped the Lady Rockets’ record on the season to 21-5.
They will return to action Wednesday night at Kettering Fairmont High School against Miami East in the regional semifinals, hoping for a victory that would land them one game from the state tournament. The regional championship will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Kettering.
“I felt like we were similar teams, with great outsides and great middles,” said Anna coach Kelli Barhorst. “But I felt we were the more talented team.”
The Lady Rockets had some catching up to do in the first game, falling behind 18-10 at one point, and also being down 24-22.
“We came out flat,” said the coach. “But the girls battled back and Carly Becker got going from the service line when we were down 24-22. And the defense was scrapping like crazy.”
Coming back for the 28-26 win in the first set gave the Lady Rockets all the momentum, and they controlled most of the action in the next two.
“I think the girls realized that we’re not going to play teams we can beat 25-10 at this stage,” the coach said. “And they did a good job taking care of the short tips and the deep tips in the last two games. And we got our blocking going.”
The Lady Rockets had a balanced attack on offense, with Sarah Bettinger, Krista Gehret and Kennedey Glover all finishing with 11 kills. Elizabeth Landis set them up with 32 assists.
Avery Bensman and Mackenzie Wells led the defense with 24 and 23 digs, respectively, and Gehret added a pair of solo blocks.
D-3 Regional
Wednesday at Kettering
Fairmont High School
6:00 — Versailles (15-11) vs. Newark Catholic (24-1)
7:30 — Anna (21-5) vs. Miami East (22-4)
Championship: Saturday, 2 p.m.
——
Division 4:
Loramie, JC,
Lehman advance
TROY — The first game at Troy Saturday pitted two County teams against each other and when it was over, Fort Loramie won 3-1 to post its third win of the season over the Fairlawn Lady Jets.
The defending D-4 state champions advanced to the regional tournament starting Thursday at Tipp City, and the Lady Redskins will take on another county rival, the Lehman Lady Cavs. When the two teams met back in September, Lehman won 3-0.
The Lady Redskins, now 18-8, had their hands full Saturday, with the scores being 25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21.
“We knew this was going to be a battle,” said Loramie coach John Rodgers. “Fairlawn is a great defensive team and they make you earn every point. We made some small adjustments and the girls executed them, and that’s all a coach can ask for.”
Caleigh Barhorst pounded out 21 kills to lead Loramie, Sarah Stang had 10 and Maeve Hilgefort finished with six. Maddie Brandewie handed out 40 assists.
Taylor Ernst led the defense with 28 digs and Brandewie and Barhorst finished with 19 apiece.
Fairlawn finishes at 17-6.
• The No. 2-ranked Jackson Center Lady Tigers are now 25-1 after an easy victory over Cincinnati Christian Saturday at
Troy, 3-0.
The Lady Tigers completely dominated, winning 25-4, 25-8, 25-9 to advance to the regional tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. at Tipp City against neighboring rival New Knoxville.
“We knew very little about them going into the game,” said Jackson Center coach Kim Metz of the Cincinnati team. “But the kids were ready to play, and we went in with the idea that we were going to take care of our side of the net. A lot of it is mental at this stage of the season, and the kids were very focused.”
Cassie Meyer had nine kills, Alicia Kessler had seven kills and three blocks, and Pauline Meyer had six kills and six digs for Jackson.
Kamryn Elchert had 19 assists and three ace serves, Jayel Frye serves four aces, Erin Metz also had three aces, and Peyton Esser had eight digs.
Jackson Center defeated New Knoxville 3-0 during regular-season play.
• TROY — The Lehman volleyball team is back in the middle of things. After having a streak of 21 straight district titles ended a year ago in the sectional finals, the Lady Cavaliers are back in the Sweet 16.
And the opponent will be no surprise either.
The Lady Cavaliers defeated Miami Valley Christian Academy 25-9, 25-16, 25-14 Saturday in a D-IV district final at Troy High School, and will now meet defending D-4 state champion Fort Loramie Thursday at Tipp City at 8 p.m.
“It is a big match,” Lehman coach Greg Snipes said. “It always is. It doesn’t matter if it is regular season or tournament. Fort Loramie has a great program and both teams get up for the match.”
On Saturday, it didn’t take Lehman setter Maddy Smith long to figure out the way to attack MVCA was through the middle — and Marianne Hissong and Allie Hall were relentless all match long against a shorter Lady Lions team..
The only drama of the match came early in the first set. MVCC scored three points to close within 7-6, before Lehman scored the next 14 points. The Lady Lions hit a ball long to make it 8-6 and Madison Hussey served 13 straight points to make it 21-6.
Smith finished with 36 assists on the night, while Sidney Chapman had 16 kills and 15 digs. Hissong finished with seven kills and joined Hall in having four blocks each. McFarland added six kills and Hussey had 15 digs.
Lehman is now 19-7 on the season.
D-4 Regional
Thursday at Tipp City
6:00 — Jackson Center (25-1) vs. New Knoxville (16-9)
7:30 — Fort Loramie (18-8) vs. Lehman (19-7)
Championship — Saturday, 2 p.m.
