Fenwick overcomes nerves to spike Heath

Falcons rally in the first game, then keep the momentum in a 25-23, 25-20, 25-14 victory.

By John Bombatch, Staff Writer Updated 8:50 AM Thursday, November 5, 2009

WILMINGTON — The Fenwick High School volleyball team came down with another case of the tournament jitters, but found a hard-hitting remedy in time to claim a 25-23, 25-20, 25-14 win over Heath in the Division III regional semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Fenwick coach Yoon Ha said he heard several players say they were nervous prior to the battle with the Bulldogs (23-3) at Wilmington High School.

“I was surprised by that, but I think it was a case of dealing with the unknown,” Ha said. “They’d never seen them play before. So I think, just because of that, it generated some bad cases of the nerves, and that created some unforced errors on our side early on.”

Ha said solid serving and Fenwick’s ability to mix in the soft dink for winners kept Heath off balance the rest of the way.

Fenwick (21-4) trailed 17-13 in the first game, but thanks to solid serves by Alyssa Beck, Mallory Jeanmougin, Maddie Mutlu and Jessica Levy down the stretch, the Falcons rallied for the 25-23 first-game win.

Heath coach Shela Croom said she felt the match’s momentum shift in Fenwick’s favor after that first game.

“We get that first game, and I absolutely think that we would’ve built off of that momentum for the rest of the match,” Croom said. “But you’ve gotta credit Fenwick. They took that momentum from us, especially in the second and third games, and that was that. Volleyball is a game of momentum. We just couldn’t keep it on our side tonight.”

Instead, the Falcons attacked the Bulldogs’ right-side defense and rolled to wins in the final two games to earn a return trip to the regional finals. Fenwick’s Kristin Thompson said the match wasn’t one of her team’s best by a long shot.

“No, it wasn’t one of our better games tonight, but we didn’t panic. We battled back and finally started to play well together as the match wore on,” Thompson said.

Thompson improved as the match went on, too. She led the team in kills with four in each of the last two games. She finished with nine kills and a block for the match.

Once again, Beck was the top Falcon hitter. She came up with a dozen kills to go with four service aces and a block. Emily Pierce was next with eight kills, and Chelsea Farrell finished with six.

Fenwick now has a rematch in the regional final with Versailles, a team that beat the Falcons in the finals a year ago.

“They’re ranked second or third in the state. They beat us here last year, so we just have to go into the match relaxed,” Ha said. “We have to play like we’ve got nothing to lose.”

That game is set for 4 p.m. Saturday at Wilmington.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851

or jbombatch@coxohio.com.

»On the Web

View a photo gallery from this game.

MiddletownJournal.com/sports

Share this article