STOW: The third time was not a charm for Archbishop Hoban.
After topping Hoban twice during the regular season, North Coast League rival Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin swept the Knights 3-0 in a Division II regional championship volleyball match Saturday afternoon at Stow High School. CAS 13450-84-5
The loss brought to an end Hoban’s best volleyball season in more than 20 years.
A tall and athletically gifted team from NDCL (23-4) will advance to next week’s state tournament at Wright State University.
“I’m proud of our girls,” Hoban coach Corey Verchio said. “We got here. It’s not like our girls didn’t play hard. They played hard. We were having trouble serve receiving, which is hard to run your offense out of, obviously, but when we passed the ball to the slot we were really good today.”
The Lions won 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 and were led by their senior captain Stephanie Williams, who registered 14 kills, 16 digs and two blocks. NDCL geared its defense to block Hoban’s top hitter in senior Alex Hall, who came into the match with 49 kills in her past three outings.
“People tried to push through [earlier 3-0 losses to NDCL],” Hall said.
A neutral site state semifinal should not faze the Lions. A flood wiped out NDCL’s home gymnasium earlier this year and the Lions have played their entire schedule on the road.
“We’ve been bouncing from college to college playing our home matches,” Lions coach Tom Ray said. “We haven’t been home at all.”
The North Coast League Blue Division is a powerful volleyball league as evidenced by three teams (Mentor Lake Catholic, Padua Franciscan and NDCL) in the top five of the final Division II state poll. Walsh Jesuit was the No. 1 seed this year in its Division I district bracket.
“[NDCL] is really good,” Verchio said. “I think they are slightly more athletic all the way around. I think they are slightly more experienced all the way around. I hope they go down to state and win it, and represent our league.”
The Knights (14-13) led 1-0 in all three sets and enjoyed their biggest lead of the match at 14-9 in the third set. Hoban received a momentum boost when sophomores Annie Leslein and Ashley Kozer teamed up for a great defensive sequence and senior middle hitter Erin Gibbons ended the rally with a kill.
But the Lions methodically regained control. Junior middle Ambre Pierce served three consecutive aces to tie the score at 16-16. Williams then came up with three kills in a short span to give NDCL control at 22-18.
Kozer and junior Erica Roberts combined for a block to fend off the first of two match points, but NDCL sophomore Stephanie Hetki ended the suspense with a kill to clinch a 25-20 win and the match.
With the score tied 10-10 in the first set, the Lions won five consecutive points and cruised to a 25-16 win. Gibbons and Hall each had two kills for the Knights.
In the second set, trailing 19-8, Hoban played its best defense of the match. The Knights used a couple of tandem blocks and a kill from Kozer to scramble back to within 20-14. Pierce closed it out for the Lions with a back-side kill to secure a 25-17 win.
NdCl3 Kozer (18 assists), Leslein (eight digs), Gibbons (seven kills) and sophomore Marissa Durkin (seven service points) led the Knights.