5th Straight Over Huskies
Four consecutive games the Berkshire Badgers have claimed victory over their long-time rival, the Cardinal Huskies. In all four contests, the Badgers have swept the Huskies 3-0 in dominating fashion.
Four consecutive games the Berkshire Badgers have claimed victory over their long-time rival, the Cardinal Huskies. In all four contests, the Badgers have swept the Huskies 3-0 in dominating fashion.
Entering the latest contest Sept. 17, stakes were high for both teams.
In a five-set thriller, the visiting Huskies had just picked up a huge win over conference opponent Crestwood, while the Badgers lost a heartbreaker to the Kirtland Hornets in their own five set matchup.
A fight to stay atop the conference was on the line.
“As for the win streak, this is still a rivalry game and always brings some extra energy to the gym, so lately we have been able to use that to our advantage,” Berkshire Head Coach Joni Prots said.
Sophomore Maddie Bower helped her team get comfortable with an ace to start the contest. A quick 1-0 lead eventually grew to a 7-2 advantage for the Badgers, forcing first-year Cardinal Head Coach Michael Chaffee to call a timeout.
Looking at the Badgers on the court, they certainly had the height advantage, including 5-10 hitter Jillian Smetana and 6-1 middle blocker Kirsten Shaffer. Looking at the Badgers on paper, they also returned four starters from a season ago. They return experience, a group that finished 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the Chagrin Valley Conference and finished in a first-place tie to clinch the conference championship.
A conference championship repeat might feel like a guarantee for Coach Prots, who makes her 20th appearance at the Badgers’ helm.
With these aforementioned advantages, Berkshire was able to get its offense rolling with Shaffer and Smetana orchestrated by junior Marissa Rish and Ava Chuha as the team’s setters. Behind an aggressive game plan at the service line and an unpredictable offensive attack, the Badgers seem to execute well in the first set.
Another timeout would be called by Coach Chaffee after his team began to trail 12-5. Rish would record three straight aces to stretch the lead to 15-5. After a service error by Rish, the 8-0 run would be stopped. The Huskies would give the Badgers set point on a hitting error, but after a kill recorded by junior outside hitter Ali Puruczky, a hitting error from the Badgers, and a Shaffer kill out of the middle, set one would eventually go to the Badgers, 25-20.
To start the second set, the Huskies made some adjustments and tied things at four apiece after senior middle blocker Morgan Csontos notched a kill out of the front row. The Huskies went on to score four straight points where their opponents registered three hitting errors.
Coach Prots called her first timeout on the night when her Badgers trailed 8-4 early in the second set.
It felt like momentum had shifted in favor of the Huskies. Kills would be recorded by Csontos, Puruczky, and sophomore outside hitter Natalie Soltis. The Huskies seemed to increase the amount of aggression in their offense, using the tool of the Badgers’ block to stretch their lead to 18-8.
But on back-to-back kills from Rish, the Huskies called their first timeout in the second set. Rish was able to catch the Huskies defense sleeping and picked up two points on a tip kill.
The Badgers pulled within two, then, on back-to-back kills from Sahffer, and all momentum had shifted to the home team. Junior Kate Miller tied things up at 20, then Puruczky and Soltis each notched things up again at 22 and 23 even. A kill off the block for Rish set the Badgers up for first set point, and an ace from Bower gave the Badgers the 2-0 advantage, capturing set two 25-23.
“We needed to keep staying aggressive and hitting it deep against them,” said Delana Kellogg, the Badgers’ libero. “We finally loosened up; we were playing scared, and that didn’t help us.”
“Set two was us making more errors than we did in set one,” Coach Prots said. “Cardinal came out stronger than us, which is something we have to work on. It was awesome to see us battle back, and I am glad we pulled out the win, which shows our perseverance and teamwork.”
Back and forth the third set would start before an overpass kill and a miscommunication forced the Huskies to call their first timeout in the third set. Cardinal gave the Badgers all they had and would get as close 21-20, but the Badgers rattled off three straight points then to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
Experience and height differences had proven too much for the Huskies. Leading the way offensively for the Badgers was Jillian Smetana with 10 kills, while Shaffer added nine. Junior Kate Miller recorded nine kills on 20 swings. Rish also contributed with nine kills on 18 total swings. Rish and Chuha added 19 and 18 assists, respectively.
Senior Amber Zeiler and Shaffer each added two blocks, while Miller held the back row down with 13 digs. Smetana added 10 digs, while Rish and Chuha recorded nine and eight digs. The Badgers recorded 11 aces with Rish pacing the way with four, while two other Badgers each added three.
“Our game plan was to attack the line and the setter, where we wanted to stay in zone one,” Miller said.
Cardinal was paced by Puruczky with 10 kills. Soltis added five. Maddie Ehrhardt led the way with eight assists, while Adelyn Grant led the defense with 18 digs. The Huskies also recorded 11 aces with Grant and Puruczky each adding three.
The Huskies fell to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in the conference, while the Badgers improved to 6-2 overall and also 2-1 in the conference.
“It took a team effort to battle on Tuesday,” Coach Prots reflected. “Kirsten Shaffer, Jillian Smetana and Marissa Rish had some important kills, while Kate Miller, Maddie Bower and Delana Kellogg played some great defense. Ava Chuha and Marissa distributed the ball consistently.”
Added Miller, “The loss on Thursday (against Kirtland) was what made us want to come into tonight’s game and show that we shouldn’t have lost to Kirtland. That game gave us momentum for tonight’s game.”
