The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Open Door triples win total under new coach
Opposing teams used to feast on Open Door until coach Dan Stintsman changed the culture. The Patriots are 15-5 and earned the No. 6 seed in the D-II Medina District. Plus, Top of the Crop.
First-year coach Dan Stintsman knew there was a bit of a reputation sur- rounding the Open Door volleyball program and set out to change it from the day he took the reins.
“Open Door, people usually come into our gym and expect a win before they get off the bus,” Stintsman said. “I said that stops here. The (opponent needs) to know they’re in a match the mo- ment they walk into the gym.”
The season opened with back-to-back losses. But the Patriots put together a seven-game winning streak before two setbacks in mid- September, then got right back up and strung together seven more wins before the regular-season finale, a tri-match at Oberlin Oct. 14.
Now, Open Door is 15-5 — the most wins in at least six years — and earned the No. 6 seed in the Division IV Medina District.
The 15 regular-season wins are triple the amount of last year’s team, which finished 5-22, and on a team with one senior and a combined seven sophomores and freshmen, the turnaround has been impressive and, according even to the players, a little surprising.
“I was excited to see what the season had in store but I never expected us to be this good and jell together the way we did,” sophomore Emily Ford said after the tri-match Oct. 14.
Ford, a setter, has been a major factor in the Patriots’ improvement, and Stintsman even referred to her as the team’s “biggest weapon.”
The second-year letterwinner has 372 assists on the season, good for an average of 5.2 per set, and teammate Zelie Kessler, a fellow sophomore and one of Ford’s best friends, said it’s her approach to the game more than her skill that makes Ford invaluable to the team.
“All in all, she’s just a good setter and a good motivational person, so for all
of us to have such an amazing person out there, she hardly ever gets down, always lifts people up and always puts the sets right there,” Kessler said. “It’s great for the whole team.”
But it’s not just Kessler and Ford who consider themselves close friends.
Ask any one of the players, and they will tell you their success is a direct reflection of the bond they’ve forged this season, and both Kessler and Ford couldn’t help but rave about how tightly knit the Patriots have become.
“I think the big difference is we have really good team chemistry. We’re all good friends, and it just works together really well,” Kessler said. “It’s a fun team. We’re all just playing because we love it and that chemistry is going into the game and we’re just able to have fun and get some wins.”
“We’re basically like one big family so that helps a lot,” Ford added, “We’re more happy with the season and we jell together better. We’re just closer.”
The real test is still ahead, however.
Open Door travels to Medina to take on No. 11 Hillsdale in a sectional semifinal Oct. 18. Last season, the Patriots
pulled off an upset in the first round before getting swept by Mogadore in a sectional final and are certainly hoping to take in one step further in the 2017 playoffs.
It’s certainly possible, and Stintsman believes facing a team like Oberlin can only help the cause.
“(We’ve) got to see a team that we want to be like: Oberlin,” Stintsman said. “Their kind of coverage, the way they play, athletic, we’re striving to be a team like that. That was another good team that we competed right with them the whole time. We just have to end up getting over the top and playing at that level the whole time.”
On the court
Two area setters reached career milestones this week:
• Avon Lake junior Natalie Appleton earned her 1,000th career assist in the Shoregals’ regular season finale at Midview on Oct. 12.
The three-year letterwinner had 32 assists in the match, bringing her total to an even 1,000, and her 702 assists this season are the most of any setter in the Morning Journal area.
• Brookside senior Lindsey Miller earned her 1,000th career assist in the Cardinals’ regular season finale at Wellington on Oct. 12.
Miller, a three-year letter-winner, had 16 assists in the match, which brings her season total to 302 and her career total to 1,009.
In her junior season, Miller posted 702 assists — the most of her high school career — and had an 8.9 assists per set average. This season, Miller averaged 4.2 assists per set.
OHSVCA poll
Amherst finished the 2017 regular season ranked No. 13 in Division I in the final Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association poll released Oct. 16.
The Comets were ranked in the top 10 for two straight weeks before a 3-0 loss to Avon Oct. 12 dropped them three spots.
Avon is once again among the rankings after that big win at Amherst, and finishes No. 20 in D-I.
The Eagles were ranked No. 20 in the Week 1 poll released Sept. 11 but fell out after getting swept by Amherst at home Sept. 14.