HOLMES TOWNSHIP — For the last two years, the Wynford volleyball team was derailed in the Division III sectional final by Edison, denying the Royals a chance to play in the district tournament.
Monday night, the Royals appeared ready to get some payback.
The Royals controlled the net from the outset and blanked the Chargers, 25-11, 25-19, 25-23, in the first round of the Division III sectional.
With the win, the eighth-seeded Royals (9-13) will advance to the sectional final and will face second-seeded Galion, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Galion High School. Ninth-seeded Edison finished its season with a 9-14 record.
Wynford coach Clara Adelsperger said that the third time was the charm.
“(Edison is) definitely a different team and we’re a different team,” Adelsperger said. “But we tried to make a quicker pace than we’re usually used to, and it benefitted us.”
Edison coach Sean Hoover said that the Royals’ ability to use the entire court was the difference in the match.
“They did a nice job of hitting the balls around the court and making chase a lot of balls,” Hoover said. “They aimed for the corners and made a lot of tips on second balls, things like that. We weren’t able to see those early enough to chase them down.”
Hoover also added that his team played hard all the way to the end.
“That’s a credit to our girls,” Hoover said. “Wynford played well. I’ve seen some matches where they made errors and kept teams in; they didn’t do that tonight. They went out and made us do what we feel we have to do, we have to make teams beat us, we can’t go out and beat ourselves.
“Wynford did a nice job of putting balls where they wanted to, and they did a nice job.”
The Royals came out quickly and shut the Chargers down in the first set.
Wynford got seven kills and an ace from Zoe Whitmeyer to take a 14-4 lead.
Edison cut the lead to 14-6 on a Jorja Byington ace, but the Royals scored 11 of the final 16 points to get the win. Emma Steiger and Grace Stucky each got two kills in the run, while Reese McGuire added a kill and an ace.
The second set was back-and-forth most of the way, with Wynford holding a slight lead, getting a 12-8 lead on a Whitmeyer kill and a 15-9 lead on a McGuire ace.
At 20-15, Wynford scored four straight points on a Whitmeyer kill, a block from Katelyn Wagner and McGuire and a serve from Clareese Prenger. Edison managed to cut the lead to 24-19 but a McGuire kill ended the set.
Edison took control of the early portion of the third set, taking a 10-6 lead on a Stella Brown serve. But Wynford came back, getting three kills from Aleece Filliater, to regain the lead at 11-10.
The set was tied at 14-14 before McGuire and Wagner each got a kill, cutting the Edison lead to 17-16. Steiger and Filliater got two kills and Stucky added an ace, as the Royals took a 23-21 lead.
Filliater got a kill and Byington added a kill for the Chargers and the Royals led, 24-23. But a long strike by the Chargers ended the match.
Adelsperger was very pleased with the way her team struck the ball.
“We made a lot of good contact with the ball,” Adelsperger said. “Our serve receive and our sets are really what allowed us to do that. It’s not always so clean. We were playing a little faster and there were some balls that were hit a little bit off, but because of that, I think our speed kinda helped us.
“Our girls really kept their composure, even when they came back in the third set,” Adelsperger added. “I felt they had some confidence that we don’t always see and excitement, so, hopefully, we can build on that for Wednesday.”
Filliater finished the night with eight kills, and Adelsperger credited her play.
“These last two weeks, Aleece has played her best volleyball, probably of her high school career,” Adelsperger said. “It seems like her hits early in the season, you never knew where they were going to go. They just randomly found the floor, but now she has much more control of the ball and she did an excellent job from the right side for us.”