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Cincinnati St. Ursula caps perfect season with national title By Jim Jicha Cincinnati St. Ursula set a goal at the end of last season -- to go undefeated in 2003. That ambitious aim sprouted from bitter disappointment over a heartbreaking loss to archrival Cincinnati Ursuline in last year’s state final. Saturday the Bulldogs achieved their goal, turning the tables on Ursuline in the final, to finish the season 29-0 and win the state championship. It was their second crown in three years. Their victory was made all the sweeter when they were awarded the national championship by PrepVolleyball.com. This marks the first time an Ohio high school has ever finished the season ranked number one in the nation in volleyball on any poll. PrepVolleyball’s John Tawa, who traveled all the way from California to watch Ohio’s state finals, said St. Ursula was the strongest team he had seen this year. The Bulldogs did nothing to dissuade him of that notion as they toppled two other nationally ranked powers to win it all. While Bulldogs won the title on Saturday, it was on Friday against sixth rated Toledo St. Ursula that they established themselves as deserving of their number one ranking. For it was in the state semifinal against the Arrows that the Bulldogs showed they could overcome adversity and prevail when things went badly. To say Friday was not Cincinnati’s day would be an understatement. For starters, their namesake from Toledo was on a mission. This was the Arrows’ fourth trip to state, and they were tired of being beaten by Cincinnati teams. Three previous trips to the Nutter Center had been ended by Mt. Notre Dame, Ursuline and St. Ursula, respectively. Adding insult to injury, the Bulldogs beat the Arrows in their own tournament, giving them their only blemish on an otherwise spotless record. Toledo came prepared to battle to the end and they did. Sarah Florian was on fire pounding down 21 kills on 49 attacks. The Arrows tenaciously fought every ball and four defenders had ten or more digs. Meanwhile, to add to their woes Cincinnati was having an off day. Beth Shelton made an uncharacteristic 10 hitting errors as spikes that normally go straight down instead went straight out. Maggie Schmelzle and Bryn Kehoe combined for another 13 stray hits. The team also made 13 service errors. And so it happened that the Bulldogs eventually found themselves in a place they hadn’t been all season, looking out of a 9-4 third game hole. They were in unfamiliar territory. Actually, they were fortunate there was a third game. But for Schmelzle who was phenomenal in game one, and Beth Gillming who steadied the Bulldogs with her usual accurate hitting (17 kills and a .455 average), Cincinnati’s season might have been over in two. At any rate, it was down in that hole that the championship character of this team came to the fore. It was up or out time and the Bulldogs weren’t about to go out. So they climbed back up with a comeback that showed their mettle. Shelton started it by lofting a tip over the block and into a big empty space in Toledo’s backcourt for a sideout. Erin Schroeder served up an ace and Shelton followed with a cross court smash that was blocked out of bounds. The Arrows got a reprieve on a tip by Florian, and when a Schmelzle blast sailed out Toledo led 10-6. Shelton drilled a spike to center that went off a diving defender’s hand. Toledo committed a net foul, Meaghan Mooney smashed one down the line, Schmelzle and Gillming added kills and the teams were locked at ten. Gillming and Shelton double blocked to put the Bulldogs on top 11-10. But then came a serving error, followed by a two hits error, followed by eight sideouts accompanied by intensely frenzied volleying, followed by a terminating back court spike from Florian. The Arrows were back on top 12-11. Toledo committed a lift and the frenetic volley that followed was ended in spectacular fashion by Kehoe who blasted a spike into Toledo's floor. A smash by Gillming put Cincinnati back on top 13-12. Sydney Antonio made two great digs and when a dump by Kehoe failed, Toledo had another shot. But Gillming parried that threat with a kill, and Shelton put the Bulldogs on the cusp with another blast. A Toledo hit went out and it was over. The Bulldogs were headed for their third championship match in a row with Ursuline. Cincinnati St. Ursula isn’t nicknamed the Bulldogs for nothing. That they were able to prevail on this day against the fired up Arrows speaks volumes. They showed grit, they kept their cool and they stayed focused. Some might say they won this one ugly, but that’s how teams become national champions -- they find ways to win. That’s how Ohio State got it done last year. Saturday dawned a new day and a different St. Ursula team showed up at the Nutter Center, as the Bulldogs played possibly their best match ever. Ursuline for their part looked great, but could not get over the hump and get a run going. St. Ursula played pretty flawlessly especially considering their aggressive attacking and blocking. They committed only 8 errors in 102 attacks, and three blocking mistakes against 2 solo blocks and a total of 22 block assists. Their attack percentage was .314. Maggie Schmelzle, the only non-senior starter, led the team with 14 kills, and with no errors had a whopping .583 percentage. Bulldog’s Coach Julie Perry was very happy after winning the state for a record eighth time, but she was even happier for her team. Perry summed it up by saying “the most important thing out here is the kids. Winning the state is great, winning the national championship is great. But this is a great group of kids and I’m just so proud of them. I love them all”. Kehoe was asked the proverbial question that, win or lose and whatever the sport, is always on reporters minds, “how does it feel?”. Kehoe responded “this is the greatest feeling ever”, but then she talked about her teammates, saying “it took every single person to do it”. She noted the team was ready for the pressures that go with being undefeated as well as with playing a team like Ursuline for the third time. “I knew we were ready. We were focused. There were times I thought the momentum might change, but we stayed together.” Beth Shelton and Beth Gillming had 9 kills apiece. Gillming was involved in 9 blocks, and three others had 4 each. Shelton led in digs with 12, with every starter contributing at least 5. Just as Kehoe said, everyone contributed. However, the win did not come easily. St. Ursula jumped out in front 4-0 on a Kehoe kill, a double block by Gillming and MacKenzie Angner, a kill by Gillming and a Kehoe block. But in between 17 sideouts the Lions came back and moved ahead 5-4 with Erin Kanetzke, Stephanie Blackburn and Jeanna Staun scoring on kills. The Bulldogs went back in front 7-5 on a center line violation and two errant Lion hits, and then the teams traded points. Angner and Shelton combined on a booming block of Blackburn to put St. Ursula up 9-7 and it looked like the Bulldogs might be preparing to break for the finish. But Ursuline’s Carli Reihman nailed two spikes to tie it. Then Schmelzle got hot and St. Ursula made their run. A spike by Schmelzle was dug into the net for sideout and Meaghan Mooney came in to serve. Erin Webster set up Reihman for a slide, but Schmelzle was there for the block. On the next play Schmelzle smashed one down the line. After a Lion’s hit was out, Schmelzle slammed a cross court kill and it was 13-9. After two sideouts Gillming and Kehoe teamed up to block Reihman. Blackburn scored one more point for Ursuline. Angner ended that threat with a kill down the line and a smash by Shelton ended the game. In game two Ursuline took a brief 2-1 lead, but a blast by Shelton hit the back line for sideout. Ursuline’s Lauren Shaffer made two great digs but Schmelzle blasted a third smash right past her to tie the score. The Bulldogs added three more points to go up 5-2, and Ursuline, while staying close for awhile, could never catch up. They did cut he lead to 7-6 on sizzling smash from Blackburn and Staun’s block of Gillming. But that was the beginning of the end. Gillming came right back with a smash that was dug all the way over the net and over St. Ursula’s back line. The Bulldogs went ahead 10-6 on a net foul, a nicely placed tip by Shelton and an ace by Gillming. After several intense volleys ending in sideouts, Ursuline scored a point on a Reihman spike. Schmelzle ended any thoughts of a rally with a smash that was blocked out of play, and she and Gillming led the Bulldogs to a 13-7 lead. After two sideouts the Bulldogs got to match point when Angner blocked Reihman. But Ursuline still had fight left in them and it was only after eight sideouts and some extremely intense volleying that the Bulldogs attained their year long goal. The final point came when a Lion hit sailed out. A split second after the entire St. Ursula team was piled in a screaming mass of humanity in the middle of the floor. Ursuline coach Amie Meyer cited St. Ursula’s lack of mistakes as the major reason why they won. She felt her team played a great match, and was able to stay with the Bulldogs. But she noted that with a team like St. Ursula you can’t just keep up with them, you have to get a run going, and with the Bulldogs’ flawless play the Lions just couldn’t do that. Meyer also said her team had trouble stopping St. Ursula attacks down the line. Blackburn led Ursuline in kills with 12, Reihman had 10 and Staun 9. Blackburn had 10 digs, Erin Webster 8, Staun 7 Melissa Zenz 6 and Reihman and Shaffer 5. Webster had 35 assists. Ursuline only had two blocks and therein lies a key difference. St. Ursula had 2 solo and 20 block assists. The Bulldogs touched almost everything that came over the net. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ursuline reached the final with an easy 15-1, 15-3 win over Austintown-Fitch on Friday. This was the second year in a row the Lions blitzed an opponent from Northeast Ohio in the semifinal. Fitch got on the scoreboard first when a spike by Rachel Terzak was blocked out of bounds. But any hopes for an upset were quickly dispelled when Carli Reihman blasted a cross court kill and Melissa Zenz stepped up and served 10 consecutive points. Fitch forced some sideouts as Ursuline scored two more. Stephanie Blackburn served the final points, and also had a nice dig of a dump set, as Kanetzke and Staun spiked home three kills. Fitch again took a 1-0 lead in the second game. Ursuline scored five straight, but the Falcons closed to 5-3 on a kill by Maggie Case. Their next hit was out and when Fitch could not handle Staun’s jump serves the match ended quickly, as Staun served out smashing four aces in the process. Staun caused another point when an overpass of her serve went to Blackburn. Reihman had two kills to end the match. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bulldogs did not have an easy time in the semifinal although they did jump off to 9-2 first game lead. This was due in large measure to Maggie Schmelzle, the only non-senior starter, who was in on six of the points with blocks, tips and kills. Sara Hotz and Haley Wiemer helped Toledo narrow the lead to 9-5. Beth Gillming served an ace and Beth Shelton blocked Wiemer to put Cincinnati up 11-5. But a Sarah Florian kill and two errors cut the lead to 11-8. And then came Schmelzle again. In what may have been the determining factor of the first game she blocked Florian twice, giving the Bulldogs some breathing room at 13-8. Toledo got as close as 14-10, with Emily Florian contributing an ace. But Schmelzle forced a sideout and after two service errors, Cincinnati won when Kehoe blocked a tip by Wiemer. Game two saw Toledo jump out in front 3-0 on two Bulldog mistakes and an Emily Florian ace. Cincinnati rallied with four points on kills by Shelton and Gillming. But Sarah Florian smashed two spikes and demolished an overpass to make it 6-4. Florian served an ace, Toledo got three points off Cincinnati errors, and pretty soon the Arrows had forged an 11-6 margin. But Cincinnati dug in their heels and, in between sideouts, slowly rallied themselves into a 12-11 lead. Schmelzle and Gillming started it with a block of Hills. Gillming also bumped the ball into a hole, and scored a kill and an ace. Cincinnati took the lead when a Sarah Florian missile went astray. Bulldog hitter Meaghan Mooney got one of her game leading digs to stop another Florian blast, but Florian came right back with another to force a sideout. She tied the game with a great tip. Then the roof fell in on Cincinnati. Their next hit was out. Kehoe tried a dump and Wiemer was there for the block. On the next play Kehoe got into the net while the ball was dropping on Toledo’s floor. Instead of a sideout, it was game three. When it rains it pours, as the saying goes, and things went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs in the deciding game. Emily Florian served her third ace of the day. Wiemer had a couple kills. Sarah Florian had some kills. Cincinnati committed more hitting errors. It wasn’t long before Toledo had their 9-4 lead. The Arrows had the Bulldogs right where they wanted them. This was unfamiliar territory for Cincinnati, who had only been in one other three game match where they won game three decisively. You could read the concern on the Bulldogs’ faces. It showed on Gillming, Kehoe, Shelton, on all of them. They knew they were in trouble and time was running out on their dream. That's when Shelton came up with the tip, and she Gillming and Schmelzle forged the comeback. But not enough has been said about Kehoe for it was her leadership that kept St. Ursula glued together. A lot of teams -- even really good teams -- crack under the kind of pressure St. Ursula encountered. Kehoe's performance under fire was amazing. She took mistakes, including her own, in stride, maintained an upbeat demeanor and kept plugging away. Her setting was superb. In the media room after the match Kehoe appeared physically exhausted and mentally drained. She held an icepack on her head as she patiently answered a barrage of questions. She was soft spoken and seemed out of breath. What about (Sarah) Florian? “She’s a great player” What did you say to Shelton? “I told her to stay in there, I need you, you’re my go to girl”. Talk about your comeback. “We stayed focused. We knew there wasn’t gonna be a tomorrow if we didn’t win today”. Are you ready for tomorrow? “I’m one hundred percent sure that we are ready for tomorrow”. And one final question. About the GGCL second place team usually winning, like Ursuline last year. That lit her up. The fire came back into her eyes and in a firm and somewhat peeved voice she said “Honestly, we are a completely different team than we were last year and we’re not gonna let that happen again” With the kind of game Bulldogs played in the championship there was no way it could have happened.
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