VOLLEYBALL Hubbard challenged by Salem, but comes through

The Eagles haven't lost a game all season, but they had a close call against the Quakers in the Division II district title match.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- After cruising to their 51st straight victory in an unbeaten season, the best high school volleyball team in the area received a wakeup call.
Hubbard (26-0) won the Division II district title, but not before Salem (20-5) shocked the Eagles with leads of 13-9 and 14-11 in the second game.
Senior Nicole Pringle served three points to tie score of the Eagles' 52nd game at 14.
After an exchange, Hubbard senior Katy Jo Mroski, who will play next year at Indiana, ended the suspense with two jump-serve aces for the 16-14 win and another regional berth for Coach Chuck Montgomery's program.
Hubbard won the first game, 15-5.
"We needed to be in a pressure-packed game," Montgomery said. "We haven't had one for a long time. We needed that going into regionals."
Salem coach Don Conser said, "The thing I enjoyed the most was the smirk left their faces and they realized they were in trouble.
"I watched Hubbard play three or four times this year and [there were] smirks all over their faces like, nobody can touch us. They found out that somebody came close."
Next up for the Eagles will be the winner of Saturday's Jefferson district final between Mentor Lake Catholic and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin.
Mroski served 12 points with six aces, and made 18 kills and five digs. Junior Monika Rajkovicova served seven points with two aces and made six kills and seven blocks. Pringle served six points and made 15 assists.
"You want your top players to step up and she did," said Montgomery of Mroski. "She made some great passes and some big-time hits."
Tiffanie Heestand led the Quakers with seven points. Lauren Teal had seven kills and three blocks. Megan Sampson and Kelli Crouse each made five kills.
Montgomery credited the Quakers "for capitalizing on our mistakes" to seize control of the second game.
The tide turned back to Hubbard's favor after a showdown at the net between the 6-foot-2 Mroski and Teal, a 6-0 junior.
"Mroski shoved her back," Montgomery said of the play that tied the game at 14-14. "It shows that her big strength move that she has at the net to tie it up. That gave us a little bit of breathing room."
Mroski said the ball came between her and Teal.
"It was us pushing it against each other pretty much," Mroski said. "I was fired up -- Lauren Teal is a great player. Salem is as good as anyone we played this year."
Teal blamed the Quakers' slow start on being "too overanxious, too excited. We took a deep breath and pulled ourselves together. We wanted to stand in their way -- we had nothing to lose and that's the way we played it."
Teal credited Salem's fine season to last year's first-round upset loss to Canton South.
"It left a bad taste in our mouths and we just wanted to get rid of it," said Teal of the Quakers who won the Metro Athletic Conference with a 10-0 mark.
williams@vindy.com