Elyria dominates showdown of Lorain County bigs

In the annual match between Lorain County’s largest two schools, Elyria left no doubt who was better, sweeping Lorain in a lopsided affair.

Experience often trumps youth.

That was again the case on Aug. 23 as Elyria barreled through rival Lorain, 3-0 in a nonconference matchup at Lorain High School.

The Pioneers (2-0) never trailed as they flexed their muscles throughout the matchup, bolting out to large leads in each of three sets while flustering the youthful Titans (0-2) into a handful of mistakes.

“Yeah, I’m really proud of the girls and the pace that they played at, and the energy that they had on the court,” Elyria coach Jennifer Shouse said. “We didn’t deviate from our energy all night.”

The Pioneers, who tout one freshman and one sophomore,

wasted little time getting going as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead behind the stellar setting of senior Madi Smith. She tallied five assists in the first set as Elyria slowly cushioned its lead enroute to a 25-12 victory.

“It’s just a team effort, just to get the pass from a teammate and then it’s the best feeling, to get a kill from,” Smith said. “Our main outside, our main middles and right side. It’s just a great feeling and we try to get as many sets as we can to some hitters to get the ball down and put it away and get our points.”

Shouse has noticed a rise in Smith’s play and hopes she will take the reins as one of only three seniors on the squad.

“She has really come into her own this year,” Shouse said. “She is a senior and she has tried so many different roles with us. This is only her second year setting and she is really just flourishing this year for us.”

Smith finished with six kills and 10 assists.

Her target throughout the night, teammate Abby Monn, tallied a team-high 11 kills and 10 digs.

The growing pains for Lorain were evident as the Titans saw more of the same in the second set, relinquishing 13 straight points after a 1-1 start to the set. The 13-0 run was a gut check for Lorain coach Chantille Jackson’s young group, who never led throughout the night.

“The frustrating piece was the inexperience,” Jackson said. “There were plays where they could have gotten a point, but they were just making the wrong decision in those moments. There were a lot of teachable moments there.”

The Titans tout three starting sophomores in addition to three juniors and three seniors this year.

“A lot of it is just natural reaction to the ball and just knowing how to react and what to do with it,” Jackson said. “You’re right, this is an experience thing. I’m really confident that they are going to continue to improve. They have already from tryouts to now.”

Holding serve for Elyria during the 13-0 run was junior Regan Holliday.

“It felt really good to be able to go out there,” Holliday said. “We got everybody in the stands just cheering and screaming. It was just exciting being up that much.”

Holliday finished with 14 assists and four aces.

After taking the second set 25-10, Elyria kept its foot on the gas in the third and final set, bolting out to another 10-1 lead. The Titans showed fight though, clawing their way back from an ugly 13-3 start, before they were eventually defeated 25-12.

The resistance was a welcomed sight for Jackson after watching her team wave the white flag in their last game.

“The girls definitely played better than they played Tuesday on our home opener,” Jackson said. “The scores don’t reflect that, but the way that they played and the rallies and how long the rallies went versus them kind of giving up on Tuesday. I already see a progression between their first game and their second game.”

Senior Sydney Patterson led the Titans with four kills and four blocks.

Despite the dominant performance against their rival, Shouse knows her team has room for improvement as they prepare to enter into Greater Cleveland Conference play.

“We kind of had a couple of unforced errors at the end of each match and I’d like to clean that up, but yeah, I’m really proud of all the girls,” Shouse said. Everybody contributed tonight and I’m really happy with that.”

Elyria will open up conference play against Mentor on Aug. 28 while Lorain looks for their first win against Lutheran East.