Jackson edges Riverside in D-I semifinal

HUDSON » There’s more than one way to get around a road block.

Massillon Jackson found the alternative route just in time on Nov. 2 to get past Riverside, 3-2, in a Division I regional semifinal at Hudson’s Ray “Buck” Hyser Gymnasium.

Repeatedly turned away by Riverside’s superior blocking, Jackson found just enough holes in the Beavers’ defense to post a 14-25, 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10 win in a five-set thriller.

With the win, the Polar Bears (23-1) advance to a third straight Hudson Regional final against Brecksville.

The Bees defeated Walsh Jesuit in five sets in the Nov. 2 opener.

“Absolutely, blocking is something we worked on all season,” Riverside coach Ali Schultz said. “When we played Mentor in the district final, we blocked really well. We came here wanting to do the same thing.”

For much of the night, the plan worked. With 6-foot freshman Jen Sivak (team-high 7 blocks), Kylie Osborne (5 blocks), Brooke Meznarich (5 blocks) leading the way, the Beavers had the Polar Bears rattled.

But Ja ck son found enough holes in the defense in the fifth and final set, took a commanding 11-3 lead and never looked back.

“I thought their block was effective,” Jackson coach Jeff Walck said. “Once we went around their block we were effective.”

Riverside (20-3) forced a fifth set with a strong per-

formance in the fourth. After building a 20-15 lead on an ace serve by Jen Durra, Riverside saw it s lead trimmed down to 22-21. But coming out of a timeout, an Olivia Maczuzak kill gave the Beavers the momentum for good.

But a rough start in the fifth set doomed the Beavers. After taking a 1-0 lead, Riverside gave up five in a row — two on ace serves by Krista Seifert and two on kills by Anna Mallette.

Riverside cut the gap to 6-3 on a kill by Osborn, but another 5-0 run — three on unforced errors — the Beavers were staring up at an 11-3 deficit.

“That was huge. Huge,” Walck said of the fifth-set momentum. “That’s where I think experience and having been here before helped.”

Behind Maczuzak (teamhigh 10 kills), Riverside nibbled away at the lead. Two of her kills, a block by Sivak, and an error by Jackson made it 13-9. But that’s as close as the Beavers got.

“They did a lot of things well,” said Schulz with teary

eyes after a postgame talk with her team. “Of course there are things we could have done better. But I’m incredibly proud of the way we fought all the way to the end. To be down that far in set 5 and come back to 1015, I’m really proud. They had a good season.”

Besides Maczuzak’s 10 kills and 21 digs, Jen Durra had nine kills and 16 digs. Aubrey Low dished out 18 assists.

Mallette (18) and Michelle Rabbitt (17) topped Jackson’s hit parade.

“I’m thankful we won,” Walck said. “We didn’t play our best, but it’s better to not play your best and win than play good and lose.”

Schultz said the bar is set high for her program despite the loss.

“I told the ones coming back, ‘You know what it takes to get here, and you’ve seen what it takes to win this match,’” she said. “It’s a good experience for them to see the work it takes to get here and what we need to do moving forward. We set the standard high.”