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Perfect Canfield sweeps Girard
By Greg Gulas
GIRARD
Girard volleyball coach Phil Walters feels that Canfield’s Maddy Johns is one of the very best, if not the best player in the Mahoning Valley this season.
Cardinals coach Maria Householder said Johns never lets up no matter what the score, adding that she “knows when to hit it and also knows when to just tip it.”
Johns noted that while the Canfield offense has been excellent through their first eight games, she believes their defense is key when it comes to setting the tone of a match.
Johns had 13 kills and 10 blocks, Jessica Meissner and Emilie Miasek each added 15 digs and Emma Hartshorn notched 26 assists to lead Canfield (8-0, 4-0) over the Indians, 3-0, on Thursday night in All-American Conference, Red Division action.
It was the seventh time in eight outings that the Cardinals have swept an opponent.
“Our offense is nothing without our defense and for us, defense is where it all starts. Together, we get the job done,” Johns said. “We advanced to the district title game last year and our goal this year is to make it to state. In order to do that, we have to play it one game at a time, never look ahead and improve every time out. We must be ready for every opponent.”
Girard (3-4, 1-3) took an early 6-5 lead in the opening game of the match on an Emily Scarnecchia service point, but three points each from Morgan Cleevely and Hartshorn helped Canfield build a 15-8 advantage en-route to a 25-14 victory.
In the second game, three points by Johns helped stake the Cardinals to a 12-9 lead while Hartshorn’s three points then increased the advantage to 16-10.
After a Morgan Trebella point pulled Girard to within 16-11, Canfield’s Morgan Leonard finished off the scoring as the Cardinals reeled off the final points of the game for a 25-11 victory.
In the finale, which featured five ties and three lead changes, Meissner reeled off the game’s final three points as the Cardinals posted a 25-23, come-from-behind victory for their 22nd win in 24 games played thus far.
“To us, every point is important and it doesn’t matter if it’s the first point of the game or the very last. We’re a close knit group that trusts each other and there’s a lot of chemistry with this group,” Meissner added. “Stopping their runs was big today because we didn’t want to let them gather any momentum. We wanted them to play our game and not have them force us to play theirs.”
A balanced attack has been helpful, according to Householder.
“Balance between our offense and defense has been big for us. We don’t have many weak spots and there’s a nice blend of veterans and underclassmen on this team,” she said. “This squad takes the game as serious as any group I’ve coached, but they also like to have fun and they do it together as a team. I switched around our lineup in the final game and wanted to see how they would respond, and while we made a mistake here and there, they did all right.”
Walters said the teams in the AAC just keep coming right at you each and every night.
“There’s never an off-night in our conference so we have to be ready for every team, every game,” Walters said. “One thing the girls have to realize is that when you keep the ball alive on your side, you can compete with anyone. Tonight, we took a lot of their attacks and were able to put them back. Continual improvement is the goal key over the course of the season.”
Leonard added 10 points and nine kills for the Cardinals. Makayla Trebella had 12 kills and 18 digs and Melanie Bakes had 16 assists and six points for the Indians.
Lorren Alejars had 18 digs for Girard.