Ohiohsvb.com                    News About Ohio High School Volleyball

Home
About the Website
Contacting the Website
Contributing To the Site
Navigation
Common Questions
News On Border States
Links To Other Sites

Weeks 1 and 2 Highlights - 2008

Aug. 23 - Sep. 5

West Salem Northwestern is off to an impressive 9-0 start. The Huskies, making their first appearance in the Norwalk Invite, downed Perkins, Amherst Steele and Elyria Catholic to win the whole thing. The only close score was with Steele 25-19, 25-22, which trounced Norwalk for third. 

On August 23, Northwestern yielded 40 total points in a tri-match wins over Cuyahoga Falls and host Tallmadge. On that same day Rocky River Magnificat struggled to beat Steele 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22. 

Perkins, meanwhile, is 7-1 with wins over Margaretta, Clyde and Milan Edison. 

Speaking of Magnificat, the Blue Streaks have only played twice so far – they also topped Huron in four last weekend. The Blue Streaks will be tested in their Fall Showcase this weekend by Cincinnati Seton and area powers. Next weekend they will host Mt. Notre Dame and Walsh Jesuit in a tri-match.

Defending Division III champ Lima Central Catholic is starting where it left off last year. The Thunderbirds won the Sidney Lehman Invitational in their cameo appearance, beating Anna in the semifinal and Lehman Catholic for the title. Frankfort Adena lost for the only time this season to-date to Anna in round one, but beat Hopewell-Loudon and Minster (which had toppled Versailles on Thursday) to finish fifth. Norwalk St. Paul took third over Anna. 

Lima Central began the season with wins over Milan Edison and Ottawa-Glandorf, and this week they beat then 4-0 Delphos St. John’s.

Marion Local, which lost most of their team and all of their height to graduation, didn’t miss a beat in defending their CASAD Invitational crown last weekend. The Flyers, who downed Lehman Catholic in three earlier that week, bested Toledo Whitmer, St. Henry and host Celina. Albany Alexander topped St. Henry for third.

The Flyers beat St. Henry again this week in league play, and the 1-7 Redskins are off to another frustrating start after going 10-16 last year. They lost in an opening weekend quad to D-I powers Chaminade-Julienne and Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame, but they did beat host Centerville in the final match. The following Thursday, Delphos St. John’s pulled off a huge comeback and beat St. Henry for the first time in recent memory 17-25, 14-25, 26-24, 25-15, 15-11. 

Rockford Parkway, on the other hand, which finished 1-8 in the league and was nipped in five by St. Henry in the district, sports a perfect mark. The Panthers handed St. John’s its second loss on Thursday.  

New Bremen is 6-1, with the blemish a two-gamer to Jackson Center.

Versailles is an uncharacteristic 0-2 in the Midwest Athletic Conference after losses to Minster and New Knoxville. But the Tigers are 6-2 overall having beaten Lehman Catholic and a tough Troy squad. (Kettering Fairmont twice went to 30 and then some to down Troy 32-30, 20-25, 26-24, 30-28.)

Heading to Centerville after our sojourn around the MAC, the Elks did salvage a win over Chaminade-Julienne in their quad. They also beat Vandalia-Butler last week and are 5-2.

Mt. Notre Dame improved to 6-0 after downing Oak Hills and Lakota West last weekend. And GGCL favorite Ursuline Academy is 5-0 with wins over Kettering Fairmont in a tiebreaker, and Lakota East and Sycamore. The Lions also beat 7-1 Notre Dame (Ky.).

Moving to Toledo, the Best of Ohio saw a first this year as both Cincinnati St. Ursula and host Toledo St. Ursula failed to reach the final. The two dropped semifinal matches to Bishop Watterson and Olmsted Falls, respectively, and Olmsted Falls beat Watterson for the crown. Cincinnati St. Ursula topped Toledo St. Ursula for third, and Toledo Central Catholic finished fifth after escaping match point from Walsh Jesuit 20-25, 25-20, 27-25. 

Anthony Wayne lost to Elyria in the seventh place match, but those two are 8-0 outside the Best of Ohio. Anthony Wayne has beaten Perrysburg and Sylvania Northview in league play. 

And Olmsted Falls is now 9-0! They beat archrival Amherst Steele on the road 25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9 on Tuesday. 

Watterson, meanwhile, split a tri-match at St. Henry (Ky.) the first weekend. They held Cincinnati McAuley to 29 points in two games, but lost a tiebreaker to the host Crusaders.

Segueing into Central District, Marysville has won their first four matches, including a come from behind 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-12 win over highly touted Olentangy.

Newark Catholic flexed their muscles in the district and in the Mid-State League with respective wins over Shekinah Christian and Hebron Lakewood. 

Bishop Hartley and Dublin Coffman are both unbeaten.

In the northeast, Smithville (4-0) won Kidron Central Christian’s tri-match, thereby avenging one of last year's five losses. The Smithies then beat Norwayne to avenge another loss. They'll have more difficulty avenging a third loss next Tuesday when they host West Salem Northwestern.

Central Christian is only 3-2, but they forced Smithville into a tiebreaker, and their other loss was to 5-0 Wooster Triway 25-21, 25-22, 24-26, 22-25, 15-10.

Orrville, which lost at home in its season opener to league rival Mansfield Madison in five, went on the rode last night and nipped defending league champion Wooster 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 21-25, 18-16, thereby breaking the Generals string of 44 straight Ohio Cardinal Conference victories.

In east central, Warsaw River View (5-0) squeezed by Tuscarawas Valley 25-23, 25-22, 25-22. The Bears also handed Uhrichsville Claymont its only loss to date. Claymont turned around and gave Byesville Meadowbrook its first and only blemish 25-18, 16-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-8. Meadowbrook did the same thing, in five, to 3-1 Coshocton.

In the Cleveland area Parma Heights Holy Name dropped their first game of the season to Lake Catholic 21-25, then nipped the Cougars three straight times 26-24. The Green Wave is tied with Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin for first in the North Coast League, thanks to Lake Catholic’s 25-20, 27-25, 26-24 road win at Padua Franciscan. This league race could be a scramble to the finish.

Salem, Hubbard, Gilmour Academy and Hudson are all unbeaten.

Going back to the southwest (its a good thing this is a virtual trip, what with gas prices), Archbishop Alter dropped its first two matches to Tippecanoe and Mother of Mercy, both in five. Tippecanoe is 4-0, and Mercy is 4-1 after a four game loss to Ursuline.

Roger Bacon is 2-3 but losses to Seton and McAuley don’t mean much in Division III.

Harrison, which beat Oak Hills, and Indian Hill are 4-0.

Indian Lake nipped Fairbanks in five to open their season, and they barely eked past St. Paris Graham in their next outing 25-27, 26-28, 25-16, 26-24, 15-13. But the Lakers are 7-0. They will host Jackson Center and Lima Central Catholic in a tri-match on September 13.