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Twinburg too much for Howland volleyball
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Howland’s Christian Carr hits the ball back over the net during Monday night’s game against Twinsburg at Stow High School. The Tigers lost in three sets.
By TIM CLEVELAND
STOW
The 2013 season has been a tough one for the Howland volleyball team. The Tigers, with only one junior and the rest freshmen and sophomores, were a victim of youth all season long. That trend continued Monday night against Twinsburg in a Division I sectional semifinal at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
Twinsburg used its superior experience and skill for a 25-16, 25-13, 25-7 victory.
“We were making far too many errors to get any kind of rhythm going,” Howland coach Amanda Lingenfelter said. “Lose a lot of momentum when you make young, youthful mistakes.
“A lot of pressure in a tournament situation. There’s pressure coming in here. Whoever’s making the least mistakes probably’s going to be most successful. I think that’s what broke us down, the pressure.”
Howland’s only junior, Christian Carr, said the team’s lack of experience led to better teamwork.
“We had a pretty young team, and it forced us to work together and communicate more,” she said. “We haven’t been working with each other as much as other teams who’ve been growing up and playing together.”
The Tigers (6-17) kept things close for part of the first game, being tied 9-9, before things fell apart.
“The first game we came out strong, kinda lost it along the way,” Carr said. “We lost communication.”
The player who did Howland in was the dominant player on the court, Twinsburg’s 6-foot senior Mackenzie Harrison. She had a block and a kill on consecutive points, then had another kill for a 15-10 lead.
Carr did what she could to try and keep her team in the game. In Game 2, she had a kill to tie it 2-2, but after that it was all Twinsburg (10-13).
Amanda Szydlowski served nine consecutive points for a 12-2 lead, including three aces. Harrison had a kill and a block in that stretch.
“It’s pretty hard getting the momentum back up when someone misses a serve or we hit the ball into the net, but we just have to bring it back together,” Carr said.
Carr paced the Tigers with eight kills and 10 digs. Harrison led all players with 12 aces and 12 kills.
“She’s their go-to lefty,” Lingenfelter said. “Tough, tough serve, tough topspin serve.”
With Howland’s season complete, Lingenfelter said she has high hopes for the future.
“This is the first tournament situation they’ve ever actually been a part of,” she said. “I’m hoping it’s a blessing in disguise over the course of the next two, three years. We’re really looking to look back on this year and say, Hey, remember back when they were learning and growing, instead of constantly reminding them to make the little plays.”