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Devils rebound, but fall to Knights
By tom williams
Lisbon
Having won 20 of 22 matches (and most in three-game sweeps), it’s safe to say the Western Reserve High volleyball team was in unfamiliar territory after dropping the first two games of the Division IV district final.
Nerves were a factor, senior Gabby Stubbs admitted.
“At the beginning it was [nerves],” Stubbs said after her Blue Devils dropped Thursday’s five-game match to St. Thomas Aquinas at Lisbon High School. “We were all really nervous, everything was getting to us.
“We had never had a crowd this big,” Stubbs said. “We knew what was on the line so we were nervous.”
In the fifth game, the top-seeded Blue Devils (22-3) led 14-13 with junior Rachel Maslach serving. The third-seeded Knights dug for the next point. Three serves later, Aquinas’ Caroline Kostiuk served for the winning point in a 17-15 victory.
“They are a very talented team,” Western Reserve coach Jennifer Paris said of the Knights. “We made a lot mistakes and gave away a lot of points.
“[But we] fought back.”
Paris said this was only the third time the Blue Devils had played a fifth game.
“We won a lot of [matches] in three,” said Paris, noting that Wellsville took Western Reserve to a fifth game in a recent Inter Tri-County League Tier Two match. “We brought that up in the huddle, that we’ve been here before.”
After dropping two close games (25-22, 25-23) to open the match, the Blue Devils rebounded, winning 25-22 and 25-14 to force the deciding game.
“We rebounded a lot better than I expected,” Stubbs said. “Our passing was really bad the first two games, but we picked it up.”
Junior Aleah Hughes led the Blue Devils with 33 kills and 11 points. It was her first varsity season at Western Reserve after attending Poland High for two years.
“It was such an exciting moment,” Stubbs said when they learned that someone who had earned six varsity letters at Poland was joining their team. “We played with her when she was younger because she used to go to [Western Reserve].
“When she [moved back and] came out for us, everything clicked,” Stubbs said. “She brought our team together in so many different ways because everyone [already] was friends with her.
“And we knew she was a phenomenal player.”
Stubbs and classmate Katie Miggo played their final varsity game.
“I couldn’t be more blessed than to be with the team that I have and the season that we had,” Stubbs said.
Paris called her seniors “are great leaders, showed great dedication. They bring a lot of energy to the team.
“But we do have [most of the] team coming back.”
Sophomore Jenny Stubbs scored 11 points with three aces and made 12 digs. Maslach made 26 assists while sophomore Kalina Wisniewski made 11 blocks.
For the Knights, Kate McHugh and Julianne McGervey each made 17 kills. McGervey and Nicole McGervey each made three blocks.