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Canfield pays back Lakeview for defeat
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
When the Canfield and Lakeview girls volleyball teams met on Sept. 15, the host Bulldogs swept the Cardinals and in the process handed them their first All-American Conference setback.
Canfield returned the favor Thursday at the Frank W. Watson Gymnasium, by handing Lakeview its first Red Tier loss, 3-1.
Maddy Johns had 23 kills and 14 blocks, Emma Hartshorn registered 42 assists and 10 blocks and Morgan Leonard added 12 kills and two aces on Senior Night at Canfield High School.
As the team’s only seniors, Hartshorn and Leonard helped keep the Cardinals’ Red Tier title hopes alive as they pulled to within a game of the division-leading Bulldogs with just two league matches remaining.
“Coach [Maria Householder] told us before the game just to focus on our side of the court. She said to have fun but maintain our intensity throughout,” Hartshorn said. “We want to finish strong, but must take it one game at a time in order to get ready for tournament play.”
Leonard said being able to make some adjustments since that first game really helped.
“After that first loss, we looked at one another and said that we need to change a few things and make a few other adjustments as we move forward,” Leonard said. “Tonight, we came out really strong the first two games.”
In the opening game of the match, the Cardinals (18-2, 10-2) raced to an early 7-2 advantage behind three Morgan Cleevely points, opening an 18-14 margin before scoring eight of the game’s final nine points for a 25-15 victory.
In the second game, two points by Jessica Meissner staked Canfield to a 15-10 advantage. Jensen Silbaugh then helped Lakeview (17-3, 11-1) knot the score at 20 before Canfield held on for a 25-22 victory.
“Last time we played them we focused on what they were doing and not enough on what we were doing. I don’t care about the scoreboard, I just want us to focus on what is happening on our side of the court,” Householder said. “We made some adjustments in practice yesterday as we focused on them, but today the focus was on us and our play. The key was being aggressive every single point.”
In the first two games of the match, Lakeview was able to forge just two ties while never enjoying the lead.
That all changed in the third game, which featured eight ties and eight lead changes.
Laura Quirk’s point helped the Cardinals to a 15-13 lead, but Silbaugh’s four points gave the Bulldogs a 23-17 lead as they posted a 25-18 victory – their only win of the evening.
“We didn’t come out strong tonight and in an intense match like this, you need to do that,” Lakeview head coach Caitlin Schnurrenberger said. “We’ll learn from this and move on.”
The final game of the night, also a nip-and-tuck affair, went down to the wire as well with Cleevely registering the final point of the fray for a 25-23 Cardinals’ victory.
The game featured 14 ties and 14 lead changes.
Cleevely ended up with 15 points while Meissner added 37 digs for the Cardinals.
Silbaugh led the Bulldogs with nine points and 17 kills, Laney Lytle added 28 assists while Madison Buch had 12 digs.
Of their two remaining league games, both teams will play Howland with the Bulldogs also taking on Hubbard and the Cardinals going up against Austintown Fitch.