Volleyball: North Royalton downs Elyria in five games
Tim Gebhardt | The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — No one could blame Elyria coach Jody Johnson if she didn’t want to see North Royalton’s 6-foot-3 junior hitter Amy Schwarzwalder again any time soon.
Schwarzwalder made her presence felt throughout Thursday’s Northeast Ohio Conference match but she especially came on strong in Game 5 to lead the Bears to victory over the front-running Pioneers, 25-19, 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-10.
Elyria (8-2 NOC) already sewed up the conference title with a victory over Lakewood on Tuesday and will enter district tournament play at Midview with a 16-6 overall record overall. North Royalton (5-5) enters the Strongsville District at 14-7 overall.
“That Schwarzwalder is the real deal,” Johnson said. “She was a difference-maker. I applaud Kristen (Hubbell, North Royalton’s coach) for going to her the entire time Game 5.”
After the two teams battled through four tough games, Schwarzwalder stepped it up at the outset of the fifth to give the Bears an early 6-2 advantage. With the 15-point rule deciding Game 5, it proved to be too big a hole for the Pioneers. Schwarzwalder had a hand in five of the six points the Bears scored.
“First time we played (Elyria) at our place, it went five and we lost 13-15 (Game 5),” Hubbell said. “The girls were like ‘we can not do this again’. (Elyria) played tough. They dug every ball we hit at them, so we just kept coming, kept coming.”
“It wasn’t a free ride,” Johnson said of the competitive league race. “Every match we had to play, even Lakewood — considered one of the weaker teams in our league — was taking games from teams in our league. (North Royalton) averages about five or six inches taller than we are. That outside hitter (Shwarzwalder) is tough.”
Schwarzwalder had eight scoring kills in Game 1, where the Bears put their signature on the match by holding off every Elyria rally. The Pioneers tied the game at 18, but with Schwarzwalder getting two huge kills, North Royalton scored the next five points.
Elyria won Games 2 and 3 by spreading the ball around to its three-prong hitting attack of senior Amanda Medvetz, junior Brigette Jones and sophomore Kristen Boros. Senior Jacque Hawes and junior Jazmyn Corlew came through as well.
Boros finished the night with 16 digs and 20 kills. Medvetz had 11 kills and 17 digs. Jones had 11 kills and four blocks. Senior setter Sarah Bracey had 43 assists and nine digs. Brittany Perrott and Courtney Jones each had nine digs as well.
“We wanted the outcome a little different but I thought we played hard,” said Medvetz, a strong candidate for the Lorain County Miss Volleyball award. “We played as hard as we could. North Royalton came out to beat us. Truthfully, we had nothing to lose. We’ve already got the conference but another win would have been nice.”
The Pioneers squandered an opportunity to clinch the match in Game 4. Elyria battled back from a six-point deficit to tie the game at 19 only to make a couple receiving errors that allowed the Bears to get back on top.
“We’ll be ready for tournaments,” Medvetz said. “We remember what happened last year (in an upset loss to Avon Lake) and we’ll come out a little more prepared.”
“It’s time to step up,” Johnson said. “(The tournament) is a whole new ballgame. The regular season no longer matters. Now we’re all 0-0. Everybody’s in the postseason.”
Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Tim Gebhardt | The Chronicle-Telegram October 10th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 2% |
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