The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Middies net sweep
Youth can be a blessing and a curse in a playoff situation, and for Midview it was purely a blessing in its three-set victory over North Ridgeville on Oct. 20.
Led by a pair of freshmen, Midview handled a veteran Rangers squad on its way to a sectional semifinal win.
The Middies take on Magnificat in a sectional final Oct. 22 at the Blue Streaks’ gym.
From the opening hit, Midview attacked the middle of the Rangers’ defense, with big-hitting freshmen Lily Tomasheski and Hannah Foor. North Ridgeville had no answer, mainly because it was something they weren’t planning for.
“They just started tooling it, and we couldn’t recover from it,” Rangers coach Lisa Berner said. “(The block in the middle) was there, but technically it just wasn’t where it absolutely needed to be.”
Tomasheski took over in the second set with five of her team-high 13 kills. The freshman also served nine straight points, turning what was a comfortable 10-5 Middies lead into a commanding one at 19-5.
“Our middle has been doing a fantastic job this year,” Midview coach Jessy Bendik said. “They’re freshmen, and as the season has gone on they have really been one of the strongest
parts of our offense. So we knew coming in that we were going to attack their center. Our game plan was to hit that zone, and they executed consistently.”
North Ridgev i l l e’s Gemma Kilgore ended the run with a kill after a Berner timeout, but it wasn’t enough to spark a Rangers comeback.
The third set was dominated by Foor, who tallied six of her 12 kills en route to a 25-18 win to clinch Midview’s first sectional victory since 2015.
“Coming into every game, you want to have that mindset that we can do it and nobody’s going to stop us,” Foor said. “Being the youngest sometimes helps me because all of the girls don’t treat me any differently. They treat me like I’m one of them.”
Junior setter Macey Sanders delivered quality placement for Foor and Tomasheski throughout the night, finishing with 34 assists. Sanders opened the first set with an ace and also ended it with one, setting the tone for a dominating win.
The Rangers’ season comes to an end with double digits in the victory column for the first time in a long time.
“It’s the first time in this century that we’ve had double-digit wins in a season,” Berner said. “They’ve come so far, even with all the adversity of COVID and all that stuff, they’ve come so far. This group, not just the seniors, this team in general has made such an impact on our program that we’re just going to keep rolling with it. I’m ridiculously proud of them.”
Midview, now playing improved volleyball from the beginning of the season, heads into a matchup with perennial D-I power Magnificat. Bendik hopes her team’s strong regularseason schedule will help against a top-notch opponent.
“We play in one of the toughest conferences in the state in Division I. So going up against the teams that we do really helps us,” Bendik said. “We try to mimic that play in practice as best as we can, so it prepares us.”