Record night for Black Knights as they move past Bluffton

VOLLEYBALL VAN BUREN 3 BLUFFTON 1 VAN BUREN – It was a record night for Van Buren in its Division III sectional semifinal Monday against Bluffton. In more ways than one. Sasha Busey set a school record for kills in a match with 31, Brooke Ingwerson set a school record for assists in a season, and went over 1,000 in her career as Van Buren advanced past the Pirates, 20-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-20. The Black Knights improved to 19-3, and set a school record for wins in a season. They will play Ottawa-Glandorf at Coldwater in the sectional final Wednesday at 7:30 p.m]. Busey had three blocks for Van Buren, while Ingwerson delivered two kills, 46 assists and 15 digs. Also for Van Buren, Kennedy Jones lined 16 kills and 12 digs while serving two aces. Ava Cramer downed 24 digs, while Selma Brant added five kills and 12 digs, and Faith Smith collected eight digs. For Bluffton, Ayla Grandey had 14 kills, while Kendall Stackhouse smashed nine. Gracie Yarnell contributed five kills, 13 assists, three aces and eight digs, with teammate Olivia Hobensack dishing out 15 assists. The Pirates' Avery Talavinia served five aces while collecting a team-high 25 digs. Morgan Fruchey recorded three blocks and 12 digs, while Dyllan Worcester put up seven digs for Bluffton. The Pirates finished at 13-10. COLDWATER 3 RIVERDALE 0 COLDWATER – Coldwater is the No. 4-ranked volleyball team in the state and the Cavaliers played like it on Monday in a 25-7, 25-7, 25-7 win over Riverdale in the first round of the OHSAA Division III tournament. Morgan Blasingame had 12 kills and Jenna Leugers (14 assists) and Madison Wendel added seven each for Coldwater. The Cavaliers, 19-4 and seeded No. 1 in the district, passed up a first round bye to face Riverdale and will now take on 12th-seeded Delphos Jefferson in Wednesday's sectional final. Addie Farmer had three kills for Riverdale, which ended its 2022 season with a 7-16 record. Makayla Newfer and Maddie Risner both had seven spikes, with Risner adding seven digs as well. REGULAR SEASON CAREY 3 RIDGEDALE 0 MORRAL – Parker Vackert was 23-of-25 spiking with 13 kills and three blocks and had 11 assists and 10 digs in Carey's 25-17, 27-25, 25-17 regular-season volleyball win over Ridgedale. Kelsey Bursby had nine kills and 10 digs and Payton Vackert six kills, and 17 assists for Carey. Riley Brodman had 13 digs and Rylee Row chipped in with 11. GIRLS SOCCER U. SANDUSKY 5 ADA 0 UPPER SANDUSKY – Grace Walton scored two goals and assisted on another in leading Upper Sandusky to a 5-0 win over Ada in Monday's OHSAA Division III girls soccer tournament. Upper Sandusky trailed most of the first half before Walton's first goal tied it. Erin Merriman and Mia Norris then scored in the first seven minutes of the second half, Walton got her second goal of the night in the 69th minute and Rylee McCreary scored a minute later as Upper Sandusky on going away. Merriman and Norris also had assists for Upper (8-5-2), which will face No. 2-seeded Van Buren (11-4-2) in Thursday's second-round game. Olivia Burkhart had the goal and Lexi Poling the assist for Ada (5-13-0). RIVERDALE 7 HURON 0 MOUNT BLANCHARD – Riverdale had plenty of offense and used stingy defense in beating winless Huron 7-0 on Monday in an OHSAA tournament game. Maya Frey had a hand in five of Riverdale's seven goals, scoring two and assisting on three others. Harlee Gonzales had two goals and an assist as Riverdale improved to 9-5-2. The No. 3-seeded Falcons will host No. 6 Allen East (11-5-1) in Thursday's second-round matchup. Huron ended its season 0-17-0. BOYS SOCCER CELINA 2 U. SANDUSKY 1 CELINA – Upper Sandusky's four-game winning streak – and its 2022 season in the process – came to an end on Monday when Celina edged the Rams 2-1 in an OHSAA Division II tournament game. Celina led 2-0 on a pair of goals by Jake Knapke. Upper Sandusky trimmed the deficit to one when Jeremiah Bianchi scored off an assist from Holden Davis 2:51 before the half, but the Rams were shut out the rest of the way. Celina (8-8-1) advances to the Division II district semifinals beginning Monday in Elida. Landen Lamb made 13 saves for Upper, which ends its season at 8-9-0. GIRLS TENNIS PORT CLINTON – The trip-to-state hopes of Findlay's Ava Roach and Mia Kennard ended in the district semifinals on Saturday when they were defeated in the Division I tournament in Port Clinton. Roach and Kennard fell 6-0, 6-1 to Toledo Notre Dame's Emma Nofziger and Ellie Assenmacher in one of the two semifinal matches. Nofziger and Assenmacher went on to win the district championship, beating Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee and Maddie Peisley 3-6, 6-6, 6-2 in the finals. The top two doubles teams and singles players in the district meet qualified for this week's state tournament Friday and Saturday at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason. All-league soccer Ottawa-Glandorf's unbeaten run through the Western Buckeye League ranks earned the Titans the top two awards in the 2022 girls soccer all-conference selections released on Monday, with Makenna Siefker named WBL Player of the Year and Michelle Maag taking home Coach of the Year honors. A sophomore forward, Siefker scored 21 goals, had seven assists and totaled a team-best 49 points in helping O-G got unbeaten (9-0-0) in WBL games. Maag, a former all-league and all-state player for O-G who guided the Titans to a state runner-up finish in 2021, her first year as head coach, this year as O-G at 14-1-2 overall and ranked No. 4 in the Division III state polls. Juniors Myka Aldrich (11 goals, 5 assists), Bri Douglas (15 goals 12 assists) and Mackenzie Recker (11 goals, 7 assists) were also first-team all-WBL for O-G. Clara Beach (9 goals, 10 assists) and Lilly Haselman (4 goals, 11 assists) were second-team, goalie Emma Brinkman (42 saves, 15 shutouts) and defender Carlie Brinkman were third team, and Madelyn Hovest received honorable mention. In the boys selections, O-G goalie Dave Westrick (6 shutouts) was first-team all-WBL for O-G (8-7-1, 5-4-0 WBL). Jackson Heringhaus as a second-team pick, Isaac Macke made the all-WBL third and Brody Karcher was honorable mention. All-league volleyball The Western Buckeye League and Putnam County League released their all-league volleyball teams on Monday. Three Leipsic players – Serenity Siefer, Kasey Brough and Alivia Jones – were first team all-Putnam County League for the 12th-ranked Vikings. Brough led the Vikings with 277 kills, Jones had 192 kills and 231 digs, and Siefer was 1,873-of-1,910 setting with 785 assists. Leipsic's Marissa Hermiller (182 kills, 15 blocks) was second-team all-PCL, along with Pandora-Gilboa's Autumn Schulte (410 digs) and Corrin Luginbill (28 kills). CROSS COUNTRY All-BVC The complete all-league teams have been released following Saturday's Blanchard Valley Conference cross country meet. All-league teams were determined by times and placing in the league championship. ALL-BVC GIRLS FIRST TEAM LIBERTY-BENTON – Madi Gaerke, Hailey Hochstettler, Riley Irwin, Brenna Lay, Claire McDaniel. VAN BUREN – Lily Grady. RIVERDALE – Allison Woodruff. SECOND TEAM LIBERTY-BENTON – Emma Spears, Kenzie Smaltz, Alexis May, Olivia McDaniel. PANDORA-GILBOA – Savannah Knueven. VAN BUREN – Olivia Coutinho. NORTH BALTIMORE – Alivia Delancey. ALL-BVC BOYS FIRST TEAM LIBERTY-BENTON – Jackson Hochstettler, Gabe St. Amour, Justin Cook, Matt Ricker, Aiden Lee. VAN BUREN – Hudson Sendelbach, Nathan Curry. SECOND TEAM VAN BUREN – Michael Huffman. CORY-RAWSON – Grant Welte. LIBERTY-BENTON –Josiah Leichty, Ben Leichty. VAN BUREN – Carter Finley, Reed Harmon, Andrew Puperi. UF SPORTS University of Findlay student athletes Madison Mlsna, Austin Snyder and Jill Schmitmeyer have been selected the Great Midwest Athletic Conference athletes of the week in their respective sports. Mlsna was the GMAC Offensive Player of the Week in women's soccer. The senior forward, a Findlay High graduate, had a goal and an assist in the Oilers win over Tiffin. Snyder was the GMAC Special Teams Player of the Week after connecting on 22-, 43- and 44-yard field goals and converting 5-of-5 PAT kicks in UF's 44-7 win over Kentucky Wesleyan. Schmitmeyer was the GMAC Women's Golf Player of the Week after placing sixth in the medalist standings and leading UF to a runner-up finish in a LeeAnn Noble Memorial Tournament that included eight nationally ranked teams. SCHEDULE Tuesday's Events VOLLEYBALL OHSAA TOURNAMENT DIVISION II Fostoria (16) at Celina (2), 6 Toledo Rogers (13) at Liberty-Benton (1), 6 DIVISION IV Arcadia (9) at North Baltimore (8), 6 Cory-Rawson (12) at McComb (3), 6 New Riegel (7) at Arlington (5), 6 Ridgemont (11) at Hardin Northern (10), 6 Columbus Grove (11) at Delphos St. John's (7), 6 Patrick Henry (9) at Pandora-Gilboa (8), 6 Ada (7) at New Knoxville (6), 6 GIRLS SOCCER OHSAA TOURNAMENT DIVISION II Kenton (7) at Liberty-Benton (3). 7 DIVISION III Ashland Crestview (10) at Cory-Rawson (8), 5