D-11 Volleyball Roundup: Fillies, Dawgs, Bears, Cards advance
Photo by Danie Mae Photography
MINERSVILLE — The stars were far from shining for the Marian girls’ volleyball team Thursday in a District 11 Class A semifinal against Salem Christian at the Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium.
Oh, the Fillies won – ugly! Marian tip-toed through the tulips to a 25-21, 25-13, 24-26, 28-26 victory, but not with the grace this team can sometimes produce. Heck, it looked more like the garbage truck instead of a sleek sports car that it sometimes turns out with a speed game.
“I didn’t know what to think at that point,” Marian coach Marie Currie said about her team. “But you got to play better than we did. (Salem) was playing to win.”
Marian was playing not to lose. That’s not a good thing in sports. But somehow found enough gum shin and chutzpah to hang around.
Sophomore standout Kali Grochowski was the hero in the fourth set for Marian after Salem Christian forged a 23-21 lead. Grochowski helped the Fillies tie the set at 24-24, then with the set tied again at 26-26 served back-to-back aces to wrap it up.
The victory advances Marian to the title match Wednesday against Tri-Valley at Martz Hall. Tri-Valley swept Nativity 3-0 in the second Class A semifinal Thursday at Minersville.
“We just wanted to play for the glory of God, go out and have fun,” Salem Christian coach Melissa Weigner said.
One problem the Fillies had a tough time figuring out was 6-foot-1 senior Becky Held, who had 11 kills and five blocks.
Though not a rugged player that can get slams, her presence caused Marian to overplay her at times. The Fillies’ standout middle hitter Alena Lombardo, who kept her team from sinking, was off on her timing.
When Held look like she was going to offer a possible slam, she just tipped the ball over the outstretched arms of Lombardo picking up easy points on kills. Held, despite her length, did have a whirlybird in her repertoire, it was just tip-after-tip that drove the Fillies daffy and dizzy.
“The tallness was a factor, and I felt Alena had a great game, but you can see her timing was way off and I attribute that to a (9) day layoff,” Currie said.
To be sure, the Eagles were not an intimidating team; just using the “firepit” in the middle of the floor.
“They scored some points because they found that firepit,” Currie continued. “When you get that opening, that’s where you want to place the ball … and they did an excellent job of taking advantage of the hole.”
Marian may have been a bit frustrated at times, too. Though they easily sauntered to an opening set lead of 22-18, getting great supporting cast by Lara Viktoria Cancio, Maddy Davis and Eris Hayes to salt away the first set win, this didn’t feel like the Marian offense that can cause heartaches for the opposition.
Save for the second set, the Fillies had their game back intact. They were firing on all cylinders gushing to commanding 20-8 lead. Isabella Horvat looked back in tune, ditto for Grochowski and Caydense Smith. Lombardo was doing her thing at the net – flushing point after point. It looked like all was well and the broom was ready to come out for a sweep.
Lombardo and Horvat each finished with 13 kills for Marian, while Grochowski had nine kills and six digs.
Then things came unraveled. Marian went plop-plop, fizz-fizz.
It went flatfooted, no communication. The Eagles were starting to get confident and when they won the third set, there didn’t seem to be any need to hit the ejection button. Heck, Salem Christian was finally getting its juju in motion.
The Eagles called on star hitter Ema Bose who was banging away kills, Held was making tiny swats for points, freshman Sydney Junge got into the flow and before you can cough up the sneeze, the Lehigh Valley team was suddenly making life tough for Marian.
Salem won the third set, but didn’t have enough staying power to force a fifth set.
“I think the big stage (made) us nervous,” Weigner said. “They’ve never been here before, but we were up to the challenge.”
That big stage is something past Marian teams have feasted upon. This time it almost got knocked off its feet.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Currie said about trying to capture yet another championship for this storied program.
