VOLLEYBALL Salem finds way to beat Poland for sixth victory

The Bulldogs were only two points away from a win before the Quakers rallied.
By ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
POLAND -- The Poland High girls volleyball team had arch-rival Salem right where it wanted the Quakers during Tuesday's match.
Leading 2 games to 1 in the best-of-five format, the Bulldogs were two points from victory in Game 3. Only two points from beating the Quakers for just the second time in school history.
But as is often the case in this rivalry, Salem found a way to win. Not just the fourth game, but the whole match.
The Quakers rallied to win the fourth game 25-23 to force a deciding fifth game, which they won 15-10.
In the new rally scoring format, varsity matches are the best-of-five games. In the first four games, the first team to score 25 points wins. If there is a fifth game, it is played to 15 points. Points are scored on every serve.
"We were right there again, but came up just short like we always seem to do against Salem," Poland (1-3) coach Fred Smith said. "There is no better volleyball rivalry that Poland has than the one with Salem.
"We worked so hard tonight, but we lost our focus a little bit and made a few mental mistakes and it cost us," Smith said.
Poland had plenty of motivation to beat Salem (6-1), as the Quakers have knocked the Bulldogs out of the Division II district tournament the last two years. The squads split their regular season meetings in 2003 and shared the Metro Athletic Conference title.
Answered the call
When it has mattered the most, Salem has answered the call against Poland. And they did it again on the Bulldogs‚ home floor.
"Not that Poland didn't want it badly tonight, but I think we just wanted it more," Salem coach Don Conser said. "Salem has always owned the MAC crown and these girls just don't like to lose to Poland."
The Quakers' victory put them in the driver's seat in their bid for the league title, as they improved to 3-0 in the loop. Poland fell to 0-2 in the MAC, having already lost to Alliance.
After rallying from a 26-25 deficit to win the first game 28-26, Salem dropped the next two games to the Bulldogs, putting the Quakers in a must-win situation in Game 4.
Salem burst out to a 21-14 lead and seemingly had things under control.
Poland threatens
But Poland outscored the Quakers 9 to 2 and knotted the score at 23-23 to get within two points of closing out the match.
The Quakers withstood Poland's run and scored the next two points to win Game 4 by a 25-23 count and force the match into a fifth game.
"Going into that last game, I just told the girls that we needed to get out quicker and get the lead," Conser said. "Fifteen points goes pretty quick, so we needed to start well."
The score was tied at 8-all when Salem outside hitter Sarah Hamilton took matters into her own hands. The senior hammered a ball to the floor over two Poland defenders to give the Quakers a 9-8 lead and the serve.
Salem scored the next three points on Hamilton's serve to build a 12-8 cushion. That lead proved to be enough as Poland could only get within 12-10 before the Quakers closed out the match with three straight points.
"Sarah really came through for us tonight," Conser said. "As our senior captain, she's the one we really need to go to in crunch time."
Hamilton led the Quakers with 15 kills and three aces. Sarah Brobeck tallied 16 kills while Brittany Gregory had a nice all-around match with eight kills, four aces and two blocks.
Dee Muransky led Poland with 20 kills. Doni Muransky scored 18 points, had nine blocks and pounded out five kills. Mollie Patrick added 16 assists and 12 points.