Eagles start and end strong in sweep

NORWALK — There were moments they bent. But the state-ranked Monroeville volleyball team never broke, and now sit alone atop the Firelands Conference standings. The Eagles held off two surges in the first two sets against host St. Paul, then closed the door strong in a three-set sweep over the Lady Flyers on Thursday inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk. Monroeville (9-0, 6-0) — ranked No. 8 in the first Division VI state coaches poll — posted scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-17 as St. Paul fell to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the FC. After holding off the Lady Flyers in the first two sets, the Eagles raced out to a 13-3 lead in the third set and never let the margin get below seven points. "I'm really proud how we came out strong in the third set," Monroeville head coach Kendra Snook said. "Those first two sets we came out on fire, but then St. Paul just started making good plays. They were shutting us down with their blocking and we were getting a little frustrated — but it was nice to see the kids finish. "We haven't played a complete match since Galion (on Aug. 24) earlier in the season, but I thought tonight we played a complete match. Against good teams, they are going to go on runs. That is going to happen." The Eagles appeared on their way to an easy win in the first set with a 23-13 lead. But then the Flyers were able to reel off five straight points, then scored four of the next five points even after Snook had called a timeout. But leading 24-22, Monroeville got a well-placed kill from the right side by Madi Reiber to finish off the 25-22 win. St. Paul led the second set, 10-9, after Annie Friend served an ace. But again the Eagles regained control with five straight points. Leading 14-11, Reiber pushed a ball over the hands of a St. Paul defender, then Taryn Tyler and Riley Platte teamed up for a block. An unforced error on the Flyers then put them down 17-11, and the lead eventually surged up to 20-11 before an out of bounds hit gave St. Paul a side out and the point. Again St. Paul trimmed the deficit, pulling within 22-19 on a block by Ella Kalizewski and Friend. But out of a timeout, Alexa Adams ended the threat with a strong kill, and the Eagles closed it out with two more points in the 25-19 win. In an instant, the Eagles led 4-0 in the third set and were on their way. Trailing 14-3, the Flyers managed to get get the score within range, as a run of five out of six points got them within 24-16 after a hitting error on the Eagles. Monroeville then finished it from there, as the Flyers hit a ball into the net, and Platte ended the set and match with a kill. "I thought we controlled the match and won the serve and serve receive game," Snook said. "That's what I really told my team afterwards. Our serve receive was amazing tonight. Addison Homan, Grace Stieber, Alexa Adams … any hits we got back there, we were passing to our setter and letting our offense take over. "Props to them for that, because if you don't win that serve receive, it's going to be hard to win a match against good teams." At the net, Alexa Adams had 13 kills and also added eight digs. Reiber finished with seven kills, while Ady Adams had six and Tyler finished with five. Platte had three kills and four blocks. Tyler served 20 for 22 with five aces, and Addison Lyons was 10 for 11 with three aces and eight digs to go with 19 assists. Also for the Eagles, Addison Homan had 19 digs, Stieber added nine, and Kaci Poths finished with 13 assists. For St. Paul, Ella Kalizewski finished with seven kills, four blocks, five digs and was 9 for 9 serving with an ace. Kegney Stoll added five kills, seven digs and was 9 for 10 serving with an ace, while Kristin Matlack was 12 for 14 serving with 19 assists and seven digs. Cassidy added four kills, and Bella Guerra was 7 for 8 serving with an ace and seven digs. "We tend to start in a hole, and when you play a good team you can't do that," St. Paul head coach Angie Kalizewski said." It's getting better, but it still needs work. But ultimately we have to minimize our mistakes and put the ball away. "We do a really good job of keeping the ball in, we have our errors, but we have to find the floor and not have to take four swings in a rally before we put the ball away," she added. "And that comes with experience. We have to figure some things out, but when you're playing a team that has more offensive options than we do with a good block — that's going to be more of a struggle."