GALION — It’s been 10 years since the Colonel Crawford volleyball team won a sectional title. That streak was snapped in a big way Wednesday night.
The third-seeded Eagles used strong net play and solid back row play to down fifth-seeded Western Reserve in straight sets, 25-22, 25-18, 25-16, to win the Division III sectional crown at Galion High School.
With the win, the Eagles improved to 19-4 on the season while the Roughriders dropped to 18-6. Crawford advanced to the district tournament and will face second-seeded Galion Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Seneca East High School in Attica. In the evening’s first game, top-seeded Huron faces fourth-seeded Willard.
Even though the Eagles have struggled to get to districts in recent years, Crawford coach Taylor Kelso said her team has worked hard to achieve this goal.
“My girls have been working for this all season long,” Kelso said. “The end of the season we had huge momentum coming into this tournament, so we just brought it here tonight.”
Western played in the sectional semifinal on Monday, while the Eagles had a bye. But Kelso felt that the night off was crucial for the girls.
“It was nice having the night off,” Kelso said. “We went over there and watched them for a little bit, but it was nice to have the night off and relax and come to practice on Tuesday.”
The Roughriders came out strong in the first set and grabbed an early 8-6 lead on the serve of Joslin Cain. The Riders led 16-12 midway through the set on the serve of Jamie Muenz.
But the Eagles came storming back, tying the match at 20-20 on a Niyah Shipman kill.
From there, the Eagles got three kills from Reagan Ritzhaupt to close out the set.
“The very first set I feel that we attacked aggressively and really worked on swinging left and trying to find a weakness in that area on Crawford’s court,” Western coach Lisa Muenz said. “We did a good job of that.
“Their strength was consistent, and they adjusted to us,” she added. “Those swings that we were trying to make weren’t as aggressive. I think the difference between matches was offense.”
Kelso said that Western’s key player to defend was senior Libby Weisenberger, who got three kills in the first game.
“We knew that their key hitter was number 10; she’s a great middle so we knew that we always had to have a double block on her,” Kelso said. “That first set was a little rough, but we needed to relax and play our game. We finally relaxed and controlled the game; our blocks started going well in the second and third set. We worked together.”
Crawford came out quickly in the second set, getting five straight points on Abby Martin serves to take an 8-3 lead.
Western did manage to cut the lead to 14-11 on a Jordan Feaga serve but Crawford got four straight kills to increase the lead to 18-12.
From there, the Eagles outscored the Riders, 7-6 to take the second game.
Leading 7-6 in the third set, the Eagles went on a 6-0 run on the serve of Alivia Treisch to take a 14-6 lead. Ritzhaupt got two kills in the run and Martin scored on a block.
From that point, the Eagles outscored the Riders, 12-10, the rest of the way to close out the match.
Muenz said that going 18-6 with a very young team is a great season. The Riders have just two seniors and one junior on the team. Three freshmen were starters.
“I think that another component was we only have two returning lettermen,” Muenz said. “We have three freshmen on that court; our sophomore group is new, and our one junior is new also. They don’t have any varsity experience.
“We were proud to finish the season at 18-6,” she added. “Proud of that record and proud of them. I don’t believe, even though we lost in three, that we ever rolled over the entire night.”
Winning the sectional title was very important to Kelso and her talented team.
“It is so special,” Kelso said. “This group of seniors is very special to me. I’ve had them since I’ve been coaching. They have been saying ‘we have to keep going, we have to keep going’ and I believe we can do it. We just have to take one play at a time, and we can do it.”