Desales, Jerome, Liberty fall at state tournament
Camren White had 13 kills and eight digs to pace the Desales boys volleyball team in its first Division II state tournament match in six years, but the Stallions fell to Hamilton Badin 25-17, 25-17, 26-24 in the semifinals Saturday.
Cameron Hoying had 22 assists, three kills and two aces and Sam Marchio added 11 digs and three assists for Desales, which finished 20-5.
The Stallions were ranked second in the final state poll behind Badin, which improved to 25-2.
Desales was seeking its first championship. The Stallions also made state in 2013, 2015 and 2016, twice losing in a semifinal and in 2015 falling to Kettering Alter in the championship.
—Dave Purpura
Cincinnati Moeller 3, Olentangy Liberty 2
Trailing Moeller two sets to none, Liberty battled back to force a fifth set.
The Patriots held match point once before eventually falling to the Crusaders 25-17, 25-18, 19-25, 9-25, 19-17 in a Division I state quarterfinal.
It was Liberty’s second consecutive
state tournament appearance after missing out in each of its first 16 seasons.
“(Moeller is) a great team and they come in with lots of experience,” Liberty coach David Hale said. “(They have) a different group this year because they’re a lot younger. But they’ve been at this level before.
“They came out and were making good plays. We came out and had a ton of mishits in the first two sets. Some of that’s just nervousness (or) excitedness, that sort of thing. But after those first two, I think we settled down and got into a groove.”
The Patriots finished their year 22-4. —Michael Rich
Cincinnati Elder 3, Dublin Jerome 0
The Celtics crashed the state party for the first time and had a perennial power on the ropes in the second set of a Division I state quarterfinal.
But Elder, making its 13th appearance at state, rallied for eight of the final 10 points to take that set on its way to a 2514, 27-25, 25-19 victory.
Jerome, which finished 17-10, was seeded sixth in the East Region and knocked off fourth-seeded Pickerington Central 3-2 in a regional semifinal on May 25 and second-seeded Thomas Worthington 3-2 for its first regional title on May 28.
“Not bad for a (No.) 6 seed,” Jerome coach Phil Cagnoli said. “I think we just believed in each other. If you’re looking at championship-level programs, (Elder) is a decent one to keep an eye on and I thought they showed it.
“They were prepared and they were sharp. They had us on our heels that first set. I think once we got our feet wet, we got into that second set and started doing what we do. I think we can put pressure on anybody, and I thought we were doing a pretty good job of that.” —Michael Rich sports@thisweeknews.com @Thisweeksports