Western Reserve earns second shot at Wellsville
By Tom Williams
COLUMBIANA
Earlier this month, the Western Reserve High School volleyball team played state-ranked Wellsville.
Jenn Lorenzi, Western Reserve’s coach, said the Blue Devils did not fare well against their former Inter-Tri County League rivals.
“We played them second-to-the-last game of the season,” Lorenzi said. “We didn’t play our best. Wellsville is a very strong team.
“I wish we could have played better, but they are phenomenal.”
Lorenzi’s Blue Devils will get another crack at the Tigers on Saturday as both teams won in Wednesday’s Division IV tournament semifinals at Columbiana High School.
Western Reserve (18-6) advanced to the title game by defeating Jackson-Milton in a three-game sweep (25-16, 25-15, 25-13).
Wellsville swept St. Thomas Aquinas, last year’s district and regional champion. The scores were 25-23, 25-16, 25-22.
Lorenzi pointed out a good thing from the loss to the Tigers.
“It let us see everybody,” Lorenzi said. “We have an idea of what [we’re facing].”
Morgan Eichert, one of the Blue Devils’ three seniors, said the lesson that the Tigers taught was “we need to stay on top of our game and play our game.
“We need to not get down on ourselves if we lose a couple of points in a row,” Eichert said. “We have to stay up.”
Senior Jasmine Phillips said the Tigers “all have skill. They are just an overall good team.”
Sophomore middle hitter Danielle Vuletich sparked the Blue Devils by scoring 19 points with 11 aces. She also made five blocks and eight kills.
“She brings a lot of energy to the team, a great player,” Phillips said of Vuletich.
Taylor Mayorga, the other senior, made six kills as did Laura Sigworth, who also made 15 digs.
The third-seeded Blue Devils defeated the Blue Jays twice in the regular season. The tournament rematch was played in similar fashion.
The Blue Jays were the seventh seed, but advanced by upsetting second-seeded Southern.
“We played awesome Saturday,” Jackson-Milton coach Sue Prozy said. “If we would have played tonight the way we played against Southern Local, who knows?”
In the first game, the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rivals were tied at 10 when the Blue Devils surged.
“We started out strong, but then we let it slip away,” Prozy said.
The Blue Devils finished the first game on a 15-6 run. The second game was similar to the first. The third one was not as close.
Last year, Wellsville ended Western Reserve’s season in the district semifinals.
Eichert, who also plays softball, can’t wait for Saturday.
“Volleyball is definitely my favorite sport; the thing I love to do the most,” said Eichert, who plays travel ball year-round. “This is pretty big so it’s going to be hard to sleep {Friday night].”
For the Blue Jays, junior Julia Bogden scored eight points and made 25 digs. Junior Grace McDevitt contributed seven points, 10 kills and nine blocks. Junior Megan Fultz made eight kills.
Jackson-Milton loses two seniors — Taylor Sahli and Ashley Cameron.
“It’s something to build upon; that we were here,” Prozy said. “I’m disappointed for our seniors that we finished [in the semifinals].”