Springfield wins second straight Div. III volleyball title

The Tigers defeated East Palestine in three games.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

SALEM — Springfield’s Larissa Santangelo toed the service line, tossed the ball and hit it — well kind of. Actually, she hit more air than ball. The ball didn’t even reach the net. All she could do was laugh.

“I get kind of flustered back there,” said the junior middle hitter. “I think it’s going to go over, but sometimes it doesn’t. At least after the serve, I understand what I did wrong. My toss is low and it has to be exact in order for it to go over. I guess I need to work on that.”

Santangelo and her teammates clearly weren’t at their best Thursday night in the Division III district title match against ITCL Tier One rival East Palestine. Maybe they were looking ahead to the regional. Maybe they took the Bulldogs for granted. Whatever the case, Springfield (21-1) didn’t dominate from start to finish.

But despite serving issues, miscommunication and a determined East Palestine squad, the Tigers still did what they do best — win in three games.

Springfield won Games 1 and 3 by 25-14 counts and fought off the Bulldogs 26-24 in the middle game to sweep its way to a second straight district championship and a spot in the regional semifinals next week.

The Tigers earned a rematch with Gates Mills Gilmour Academy, who ended their 2008 season in the regional semifinals, on their way to a state runner-up finish.

With a big challenge ahead of them, Springfield was all about enjoying the moment Thursday, posing for pictures, accepting their medals and celebrating their milestone.

“This is what we expected to happen,” said Santangelo, who played as a backup middle hitter last season. “This group set some high goals and we’ve been working toward this all year. Now that we’ve earned it, we’ll proud of it.

“We tried not to overlook this game and make them know they couldn’t hang with us, so we tried to keep them under 10 in the first game. I just wanted to block everything I could.

The Tigers got off to a rousing start, running off six straight points and eventually built a 12-3 advantage. East Palestine battled and cut the deficit to 19-14.

But Springfield finished things off with another six-point run to capture the first game.

Game 2 was a thriller. Neither squad led by more than four points, as there were 12 ties and eight lead changes.

The Tigers led 19-15, but the Bulldogs rallied to tie the game at 19-all. The rest of the way, the biggest advantage was two.

East Palestine fought off game point at 24-23 and knotted the score at 24-all. A Bulldog win would have tied the match at 1-all and shifted the momentum.

Springfield, whose forte was winning matches in three straight this season, didn’t let that happen. The Tigers scored the next two points to escape with a 26-24 victory.

That close call was all that was needed to motivate the Tigers. They went on to control Game 3 most of the way.

“I think we were looking ahead,” said Springfield coach Bill Knight. “I tried to tell them to focus on one match at a time. I think we were just excited tonight and a little disappointed because we kind of wanted United. But hats off to East Palestine for beating them.

“I think the experience we have really helped us. We had to stay focused out there tonight and get things back together. Now we have a tough one next week, so we have to go up there ready to play.”