Lancers ‘keep swinging’ to win school’s first state title in volleyball

FAIRBORN » Gilmour coach Danny Coughlin told his team all year to keep swinging.

“You have to keep swinging to get out of a slump,” he said. Slump – officially over. After recovering from a disastrous first set, Gilmour defeated previously undefeated St. Henry, 3-2 (13-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-15, 15-7), to win its first-ever volleyball championship.

“I’m still star struck,” senior Maria Snelling said. “I feel like we have another game, like I can’t accept it.”

Once the Lancers were down 6-1 in the first set, they never got within seven points of the Redskins. For the entire match, they had 19 service errors.

They never abandoned their aggressive serve, but made an adjustment in the fifth set.

Julia Brzozowski normally serves first, but Gilmour inserted freshman libero Olivia Nestor to serve first and play back row. Brzozowski’s kill got the Lancers off to a 1-0 start in the fifth set. Nestor helped serve the Lancers off to a 4-0 start in the fifth set.

“With their hitting they were going to challenge our opposite-side defense,” Coughlin said. “(Nestor) has proven throughout the playoffs she has ice in her veins. It was a short game, and I was not going to chance it. Julia could have served us six straight points, but Olivia was strong and we continued what we were doing.”

St. Henry battled back to cut the Gilmour lead to 5-4. Alexa Turk’s tip kill extended the Lancers’ lead and stopped the Redskins’ two-point run. “I’ve told them all season they can change to better the game,” Coughlin said of the tip kill, which is opposite of his philosophy. “Since midseason, they’ve had a reason to do what they do. I trust them to go do their job.”

Gilmour jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the second set, thanks to two of Ella Grbac’s 11 kills. Back-toback kills by Turk put the Lancers up 22-9, helping the team respond from a rough start.

“I wasn’t expecting to come out like that,” she said. “It usually takes a while to come back with the energy in the second set after losing that first set. It helped just to keep staying engaged and working hard.”

St. Henry battled back, closing the gap to 24-19. Katie Forsythe stopped the rally with a kill. That led to another big Gilmour lead in set three, 8-1. When that lead evaporated to 2319, Gilmour withstood another rally, but fell off in set four.

“They knew they sputtered in set four,” Coughlin said. “They knew what was on the line (coming into set five). We were going to come out firing. There wasn’t a lot of strategy. It was just ‘do your job, ladies.’ ”

Turk and Snelling, the two starting seniors, had two kills apiece in the all-ornothing fifth set. They have played in all three of the Lancers’ last three state finals, finally bringing home the program’s first title. “It’s unreal,” Turk said. “We saw them on the other side, and we know what that’s like. After three years, it’s nice to finally make history.”

For all the Lancers’ struggles, their block held the Redskins to .160 hitting, including a minus .237 performance in the fifth set. Part of that was sophomore Ella Grbac, playing in a second straight title game, with seven blockassists.

“It was easy to see where they were going to hit,” she said. “Cross or line, I just lined up. The outside and right side blocker helped get me there. We worked as a pair to just get our hands up.”

St. Henry appeared to have all the momentum after that first set and the way it won the second set. But in all three of Gilmour’s wins, it controlled the game from the start.

“That’s the game of volleyball,” St. Henry coach Diana Kramer said. “If you have it, you’re on. If not, you’re going to struggle. But I could not be prouder of this group.”

The championship was Gilmour’s first in seven trips to the Nutter Center since 2007. It was also firstyear coach Coughlin’s first after taking over the program for his brother Kelly.

“He might get an ‘atta boy,’” Danny said of Kelly. “He’s the most successful coach I know. They say sometimes change is a good thing. This year, whatever we did helped for the better. He’s lost the state final by a few points. Our style allowed us to win the last game of the season. I told these girls at the beginning of the season – I want to win the last game of the season.”