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Polar Bears oust Cards
Massillon Jackson’s strong hitters too much for Canfield
By JEFF ZUPANIC
ALLIANCE
Canfield volleyball coach Maria Househoulder shared a long and emotional hug with her daughter Alyssa following the Cardinals’ season-ending loss to Massillon Jackson in Tuesday’s Division I district semifinals at Alliance High School.
Maria held back tears as she hugged her daughter. Alyssa could not do the same as she saw her high school career come to an end against a powerful Polar Bears squad that has won a district title every year since 2010.
Jackson won in three games 25-17, 25-9 and 25-22 inside Harry Fails Gymnasium. Maria Householder offered no excuses following the game.
“We haven’t seen anything like them all year. We play in a weak conference and we don’t get to face the kind of hitters we saw tonight,” Householder said. “Their hitters just killed us.”
Jackson’s Michele Rabbitt and Anna Mallette were too much for the Cardinals. The senior duo combined for more 15 kills and took turns punishing Canfield’s defense.
Rabbitt started the onslaught in the first game with three straight kills that gave Jackson an 8-3 lead after Canfield led 3-0. The Cardinals’ only other lead came briefly at the start of the second game.
After grabbing a 3-0 lead, Canfield watched Jackson score 16 of the next 17 points to jump ahead 16-4 in the first game. The Cardinals managed to claw their way back within 22-16 before a kill by Mallette swung the momentum back to the Polar Bears, who finished it off three points later.
Jackson grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the second game before creating some separation after three straight kills by Mallette made it 15-5. The senior added two more before a service error ended the game.
“I thought we were able to get our points in the spots we thought we could coming into the game,” Householder said. “We played what we practiced.”
Canfield (22-2) took advantage of Jackson’s defense when Rabbitt was in the back row but couldn’t stop Mallette. The Cardinals left countless balls up for grabs at the net and most of them went the Polar Bears’ way.
Jackson scored the first five points of the third game and led 7-1 before Canfield scored three straight with Grace Mangapora serving. The Cardinals couldn’t put together enough runs. When they did, they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with service errors.
Trailing 18-9 in the third game, Canfield showed some life to pull within 18-12 before hitting the ball out of bounds on the serve. The same thing happened two points later to give Jackson a 20-14 advantage.
Rabbitt and Mallette took care of the rest with three kills in the final five points, including an exclamation point by Rabbit to end the match after Canfield pulled within 24-21.
Alyssa Householder, who had seven kills, was too overcome with emotion and declined to comment.
Marissa Yourstowsky is Canfield’s other senior.
“We thought their two hitters would give us problems and they count on them to score 75 points before we can score 75 points and tonight they did,” Maria Householder said. “We only have two seniors so we expected to learn from this and try to get better.”