REGIONAL VOLLEYBALL Fitch stops Solon, seeks Div. I title on Saturday

Senior Maggie Case again led the Falcons, who meet defending champ Mentor.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
HUDSON -- At this point in the season, Austintown Fitch High senior Maggie Case doesn't expect to be healthy. She's had shin splints, leg cramps and all the other aches and pains that come from playing so many games.
So when the familiar pain in her legs returned late in the second game of the Division I regional volleyball semifinal against Solon, she didn't panic. She just caught the eye of her father, Tom, who called timeout and bent down to help.
They'd both been through this before.
"My legs started cramping in the back, so we stretched them out and they started cramping in the front," said Maggie Case.
What would it have taken for her to come out of the match?
"Probably a compound fracture," she said with a smile. "Unless I was causing damage, I was going to play."
Case hobbled back on the court, played through the pain and helped Fitch do what it's done for 20 straight matches.
Win.
"In a match like this, nobody's going to sit down," coach Tom Case said.
Final on Saturday
Fitch beat Solon 17-15, 15-7 and will play defending regional champion Mentor at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hudson High School.
"I've been looking forward to getting back to this game," said Tom Case, whose team lost to Mentor in last year's regional semifinal. "The ultimate goal is to make it to state. We want to make that happen."
The Falcons made it to the state tournament in 1999 and 2001. They return three starters from the 2001 team -- Case, along with seniors Stacie Mang and Rachel Terzak -- and five starters from last year's district title team. Tom Case will retire after this season, which means this is his last chance to get back to Dayton.
"We're pretty familiar with this level," Tom Case said.
Leading the way
Maggie Case had 10 points, 13 kills, 17 digs, four blocks and two massive ice packs on her legs after the match for Fitch (22-4). Terzak had six points, four kills, seven digs and two blocks and senior Jenn Drabison -- who was battling a cold -- added five points, 10 kills and five blocks.
Solon (20-6), which defeated a depleted Fitch team in a scrimmage earlier this season, stayed close in the first game, taking a 15-14 lead at one point. But Fitch rallied to win -- sparked by three points from freshman Caitlin O'Patchen -- then pulled away in the second game.
"The experience definitely helps," said Maggie Case, the Div. I district player of the year. "We knew coming in exactly what we needed to do. I don't think any of us were nervous."
Comets top scorers
Emily Lucci -- the Comets' lone senior starter -- had nine kills and 12 blocks and junior Amanda Rodman added eight kills and 13 blocks. Angelica Rizzo had 15 digs and Lindsay Buffington added 25 assists.
"I'm not surprised," said Solon coach Missy Fitzgerald. "We knew what to expect from Austintown. Nothing fancy, nothing quick. Just good fundamental volleyball."
That will need to continue if the Falcons want to beat Mentor and its best player, 6-foot-6 junior Megan Skouby. Fitch beat Mentor in the regional final two years ago when Skouby was a freshman, but lost to the Cardinals in two sets last year.
"I think we match up well," Maggie Case said. "We're 1-1. It's time to go at it again."
scalzo@vindy.com