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Crestview, United victorious in district volleyball.
Salem Volleyball
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Crestview’s Daub shines in Rebel sweep
By Brian Dzenis
SALEM
Bill Knight’s assessment of how his volleyball team lost to United in five sets was succinct.
“Camryn Jarrett is really, really good,” the Springfield head coach said. “We knew that coming in. We double blocked on her. Our girls gave it their all.
“In a couple sets, we had some breakdowns, but I can’t fault our girls for the way they played.”
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The Golden Eagles senior put up 39 kills, five service aces and two blocks to help her team outlast the feisty Tigers (18-6) in a Division III sectional-district Tournament. United’s victory completed a Columbiana County sweep of Thursday night’s action in Salem. Crestview swept South Range (8-11) in the earlier match.
Jarrett, who came over to United from Beaver Local in her sophomore season, has emerged as a two-sport star with the Eagles. She’s also a two-time state qualifier in the high jump. She’s weighing offers from Mount Union, Slippery Rock and Rio Grande to play volleyball and possibly run track.
“I try to be the one that we can go to, but we also have a lot of strong hitters that can really hit the ball if we need them to,” Jarrett said.
Rachel Brown added 18 kills for the winning side and Cameron Pierson had 55 assists to go with three service aces.
United (18-5) took the first set, 25-18, with little drama, but it proved not to be a barometer for what was to come. Springfield tied the match at 1 and United took game three — the scores were 25-20 for the respective winning sides.
“I think we kind of lost our momentum after the first set and (Springfield) got the momentum to come back,” Jarrett said.
The momentum shift for United came in the fourth set.
Springfield had United on the ropes with a 20-12 lead, but then Jarrett went to work. She collected five kills, Brown two more and Courtney Cooper had two blocks as the Eagles fought their way to a 24-23 lead. Springfield scored the next three points — the latter two were off United errors — to force the fifth set.
Jarrett scored three points as United built a 6-1 lead in the final set. Springfield worked its way back into the game in a sequence where both teams failed to serve the ball over the net twice.
“We were all really nervous,” Jarrett said. “I was very shaky and I think the nerves got the best of us.”
Springfield’s Jennie Stitzel got a kill and Carly Stitzel scored another point to cut the deficit to 9-8. The Tigers couldn’t tie the game up and the contest ended with Jarrett’s 39th kill and the score at 15-11.
Jennie Stitzel led Springfield with 16 kills and 10 points. Mariah Johnson had 12 kills and Kaelen Yemma handed out 36 assists.
Crestview coach Alisha Auer confirmed that middle hitter MacKenzie Daub reached 1,000 career kills and the senior Rebel is the program’s all-time leader in that stat with 1,005.
“It means a lot. I’ve always loved volleyball. I remember watching volleyball when I was younger and I wanted to be that good,” Daub said. “My parents coached me and they played volleyball, so it’s really nice leaving a legacy at Crestview.”
Daub had 15 kills and two blocks and Emily Emch helped provide the one-two punch with 12 kills and Haley Eskra had 20 assists for the top-seeded Rebels (19-4).
Crestview and fourth-seeded United will play each other on Tuesday night.
“I told Crestview’s coach one or two years ago that she should dominate the district for the next three years,” United coach Don Conser said. “I hope to put and end to that.”