Chardon outlasts South to remain undefeated

In what promises to be a season full of close matches in the WRC, the Hilltoppers beat the Rebels in five sets in Willoughby.

The battle in the Western Reserve Conference is going to be a season-long affair. Six of the schools in the conference are featured in The News-Herald Top of the Crop or watch list. Chardon and South will be in the middle of it, and the pair met on Sept. 2.

The Rebels dominated the first and third sets of the evening, but Chardon tied the game in the second and fourth. The final set went in favor of the Hilltoppers to down the Rebels 3-2. Chardon moved to 6-0 on the season, and South fell to 2-2.

It took a set for Chardon to really get into the game, as South had a stretch in the first set where it had eight unanswered points after the Hilltoppers had six of their own to make it a twopoint game. Even though the first set didn’t fall their way, it didn’t phase head coach Alison Fisher.

“It’s five sets for a reason. So we need to be ready for the long night,” said Fisher. “We didn’t want to think about that set and just kind of put that one behind us and approached the remaining sets with fresh eyes. We played really well in our last match and wanted to play just like that again.”

The momentum swung into Chardon’s favor in the second set after a cross-court kill by Emma McCartney. But after a few other big kill attempts fell for the Hilltoppers, South started to counter and keep rallies alive.

“We knew that once they saw us swinging hard and going across, we knew that they were going to be sitting deep on us,” said McCartney. “To counter that we knew that we needed to roll or send it deep to the corners while they were sitting on their heels waiting for the dig.”

The adjustment was to bring more of the Rebels defenses toward the net, and get the ball in the gap between the lines. This was on display with kills from Annabel Frieden and Maisie Burlison as they got the ball into the back half of the court with all six Rebels close to the net.

The offensive adjustment was big, but the adjustments that the Hilltoppers made on defense were just as big. Realizing that they needed to make these changes is something that Fisher and her staff have helped teach the players.

“Every time we’re out there we’re talking about defense and control,” said Fisher. “There’s a lot of mental cues that we want them to pick up on and get to understand, which will help them execute when called upon. We also want to work on the next point forward. They did a good job of that as the sets wore on tonight.”

A day after a long fourset match with Kenston saw the Rebels fall, South pushed the other undefeated team in the WRC to the edge. Playing the best teams in the conference early is something that head coach Mark Ridley thinks will help his young team as the season rolls on.

“In the Kenston match we showed something, and tonight we took it to a different level,” said Ridley. “At times we kind of lost the fuel, but would then pick it up again. It’s going to be a learning experience and we’re younger. We get back to the drawing board tomorrow and practice to work on what we need to work on.”

Both teams’ next games are on Sept. 7 and remain in conference. South attempts to snap their two-game skid when they travel to Riverside, while Chardon hosts North.