Spartans win behind Williams, Bletso

Boardman ousted Fitch to advance to a district volleyball semifinal at Stow.

By RYAN JONES

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

STOW — It’s hard to beat an arch-rival in tournament play, but Boardman eliminated Federal League rival Austintown Fitch, 25-22, 25-11, 25-23, in a Division I sectional volleyball final to advance to district semifinal play Wednesday night at Stow High School.

Of course, it helped that the Spartans (13-10) had seniors Danielle Williams and Danielle Bletso on their side.

Williams found holes in the Falcon defense by using a variety of short sets that allowed Bletso to place her kills on the 10 foot line. Williams totaled 33 assists and Bletso recorded 20 kills.

“They practice 50-80 short sets everyday after practice,” coach Glenn Sivak said. “It makes running those plays easier when you have someone who is 6-foot-2 [Bletso] and moves like she can. They’ve gotten better at running them at different distances and sides of the net. Believe it or not sometimes the results aren’t as good as they were tonight.”

Williams said the short set is something they’ve spent a lot of time working together on.

“Sometimes we don’t connect,” she said. “Sometimes I’m the one to blame and other times it’s her fault, but we’ve kept working at it and it’s paid off.”

Bletso said the quick set is a good way to keep the defense off balance.

“We like to go quick to try and off-set what the defense is trying to do,” she said. “Going quick doesn’t allow the defense as much time to set up.”

After winning a back and forth first game, the Spartans tightened up defensively in the second game and posted a 25-11 win.

“This might have been the best defense we’ve played all year,” Sivak said. “We knew going in what type of game it was going to be. Fitch is scrappy and they never give up. What they lack in size they make up with skill and smart play. We stressed that we couldn’t afford to take a play off tonight, or take a point for granted.”

Bletso came up big in the second game too. The senior middle hitter had six kills and three key blocks to lead the offense.

“She [Bletso] really came to play tonight,” Sivak said. “We had Fitch down 2-0 the first time we played them this year and they took 3 straight games to win the match. I think Danielle remembered how that felt because she was really aggressive. She always gets her kills, but tonight she called for the ball every play and put it away with a serious look on her face.”

Freshmen Stephanie Sfara had 12 digs and eight kills and sophomore Monica Touvelle added 17 digs for the Spartans.

Boardman will face Cuyahoga Falls next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.