GROVE CITY, Ohio — Perrysburg volleyball lost early leads in the first two sets, and fell in four to Olentangy Liberty, 25-18, 29-27, 19-25, 25-19, in a Division I regional semifinal at Central Crossing High School Thursday.
Perrysburg sees its season end at 17-7, while Liberty advances to Saturday’s regional final with an 18-7 record.
For six seniors, libero Brooklyn Okoneski, outside hitter/defensive specialist Riley Doria, outside hitter Sophie Burkey, middle blocker Reese Kaminski, right side hitter Mackenzie Hurley, and right-side hitter Kay Pierce, it’s an end to a season that saw the Yellow Jackets make a run at the Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division title and in the tournament.
“Six seniors are a lot — I think they really took the lead this season,” said Perrysburg coach Laura Davidson.
“They pushed the younger ones to work hard for them. Some of them had been to state before and they wanted to see a little bit more, and I know they are going to be a little bit emotional tonight,” Davidson continued.
“I think this season they really pushed hard, and they did their job in the things that we asked them to do.”
In the loss to the Patriots, Perrysburg junior hitter Katie Pahl had 20 kills and three aces, Burkey had 10 kills and three blocks, and Kaminski had six blocks.
The Jackets always seemed to start well in each set but could not finish. In the first set, Pahl and Burkey scored on kills, Burkey had an ace, and Pahl and Kaminski assisted on two blocks as Perrysburg opened a 5-1 lead.
The Jackets never trailed until Liberty senior middle hitter Elaina Richardson’s ace tied the score at 17-17, and a kill by senior outside hitter Cami Missig put the Patriots in front, 18-17. Liberty closed out to win the set on a 7-1 run.
Perrysburg opened a 15-7 lead in the second set on an ace by Pahl, and even though the Patriots closed the gap, the Yellow Jackets had set point with a 24-20 lead.
However, Liberty scored five straight points, ending the run on a kill by junior outside hitter Bri Jarzabek and a block by senior right-side hitter Ashley Hartung.
Still, Perrysburg scored two straight points, taking a 26-25 lead and set point again on a block by Kaminski, but Liberty battled back to win the set, 29-27, on a block by senior right-side hitter Jetta Brenning.
Perrysburg had six set points, and lost all of them, while Liberty did not finish off the set until the second time the Patriots reached set point.
The roles were reversed in the third set, with Liberty leading most of the way, but two consecutive kills by Burkey and Hurley gave the Jackets the six-point win.
Perrysburg took a 5-1 lead in the fourth set on two kills by Hurley, aces by junior setter Casey Ng and Burkey, and block assists from Burkey and Kaminski, but the Patriots got block assists from Brenning and Richardson to take a 7-6 lead and they never trailed again.
During a 6-1 run to take the lead, the Patriots scored on four blocks with Richardson involved in all of them and either Jarzabek or Brenning assisting. Liberty scored nine points in the final set off blocks.
Davidson said that even though the Jackets seemed to have the Patriots’ offense figured out, the Patriots’ defense, on blocks at the net and on the floor at the back end, rarely made mistakes.
“We definitely scouted them,” Davidson said. “We knew they had a big lefty on the right there, so we were playing a different kind of defense against her.
“We knew we had certain paths to play our offense. It was a very even team, but unfortunately, they kept the ball in play a little bit more than we did.
“I felt like our girls never gave up,” Davidson added. “They kept fighting the whole time, so I’m very proud of our girls.”
