The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Beavers stand tall in tough matches
Riverside plays six matches in five days without key players
Riverside entered the 2019 season primed to defend its back-toback Euclid District titles. The Beavers returned almost all of their rotation from last year’s team that won 21 games and advanced to the Division I regional semifinals.
No season is complete without adversity.
Headed into a six-match stretch over five days, Riverside began last week without its two middles — Jen Sivak and Cassie Jordan. The Beavers managed to defeat North in four sets before they suffered their first loss of the year to Geneva, still missing their top middles.
Riverside bounced back with a three-set win at Brush the next day, then Sivak returned from an ankle injury when the Beavers traveled to Gilmour for the Lancer Invitational on Sept. 7. Riverside placed third to end a long week on a high note.
“It showed a lot of fight for us,” senior libero Taylor Reigle said.
“We had to work through some tough matches and had to incorporate some new roles into our rotation. Being able to do that shows our strength in the program and it shows that we can bounce back from anything, really.” The intense stretch coincided with Riverside’s first week of school, which coach Ali Schultz also factored into the challenges presented by a high volume of matches in a short time. At Lancer, the Beavers defeated Brunswick then fell to Huron in the winner’s bracket semifinals. Huron won the first set, 2514, before Riverside claimed an impressive, 25-22 victory in the second set. The Tigers closed the Beavers out, 25-15, in the third. Riverside found the experience beneficial. Huron debuted at No. 5 in the first Division III state coaches poll and boasted a front line of 6-0 middle Sophie Lee, 6-foot-1 middle Claire Solberg and 6-foot Ohio commit MaKenna Schafer — a JO teammate of Sivak’s. “I think it was just a really different game for us,” Sivak said. “Some of the teams, especially in our conference, are smaller, quicker, more scrappy, but it was different playing a team built the same as us — just as big, just as talented. It was fun to see what we could do against them.” The Beavers secured third place at an event featuring high-caliber competition with a two-set win against Norwalk. As Sivak returns to 100 percent, the Beavers also expect Jordan (elbow) to return to the lineup soon. Junior Kate Tracz, normally an outside, played well as she stepped into the middle during the week.
Tracz posted 12 kills against Huron and compiled 29 overall to earn an all-tournament selection. She leads the team with 3.0 kills per set.
“This week was tough because we had two of our best players out who were hurt,” Tracz said. “It made us realize communication is really big for our team, it helped us get through this week.”
Sivak’s continued her strong play in the middle as junior, averaging 2.8 kills per set. Reigle leads the team with 3.9 digs per set and junior Maddie Herman, running the offense full-time after the graduation of Aubrey Low, averages 10.1 assists per set.
Against a one-loss Mayfield team Sept. 10, the Beavers outlasted the Wildcats in five sets to hand Mayfield its first loss in Western Reserve Conference play. Riverside faces another test Sept. 12 when it hosts Kenston, the premier challenger to the Beavers’ WRC supremacy.
Riverside’s goals include another conference championship and continued success at the D-I Euclid District.
After the Beavers lost in a regional semifinal the past two years, they identified a benchmark that exceeds simply making it out of their district in 2019.
“They even recognized that once they met that goal they kind of backed off,” Schultz said, “That was their goal and they achieved it. This year, they set some bigger goals for themselves knowing that winning the district isn’t enough for them.”