Elyria Catholic keeps season alive with win

Elyria Catholic topped Keystone in a Division II sectional semifinal to advance in the playoffs, but it did not come easy at Keystone was relentless in the tilt.

After a memorable regular season that concluded with a share of the Great Lakes Conference title, No. 4 seed Elyria Catholic kicked off its postseason play with a hard-fought victory over No. 9 Keystone, 3-0, in a Division II sectional semifinal at Holy Name on Oct. 18.

The Panthers (13-10) faced some adversity early but remained cool, calm and collected under the pressure of playoff volleyball, where anyone can see a season of dreams come crashing down in just a few short hours.

“I’m proud. We have worked hard all season long, but it’s a beginning of a new season today and we’re all 0-0. Everyone wants to win and everyone wants to advance so we kept that mentality,” Elyria Catholic coach Barb Schuckman said.

The Panthers were led by the senior duo of Sarah Schuckman and Lydia Wetzel. The two had 18 assists and 11 kills, respectively as they played off each other’s hands all evening, helping the Panthers to grab crucial points throughout the match.

“I’m really proud of the girls. We came in knowing that we needed to get this one to play Brookside and hopefully continue to keep moving on,” Sarah Schuckman said. “I’m really proud of my passes and proud of my hitters. They really just ran the game very well.”

The Wildcats (8-15) didn’t make things easy as they hung with the higher-seeded Panthers throughout each of their three matches, even taking brief 2-0 and 3-0 leads in the first couple sets.

“We played halfway decent,” Keystone coach Bud Trego said. “I thought we played well and we were with them for the most part. Both of those first two sets, and it’s just one of those spots where we get a little mistake and then it leads to three and we dug ourselves a little hole and then we fight

back.”

The Wildcats saw solid contribution from Krisandra Mezara, who helped the team on through the first and second set, finishing with nine kills in the loss.

The Panthers led throughout most of their 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 victory. But not by much as Keystone scrapped and clawed their way back in each set. The Panthers eventually took the first set with a Lydia Wetzel block — it was her only block of the evening but a crucial one.

“This definitely gives us confidence, but the other team was good, we did have to work hard and hopefully we are going to use this motivation to move on,” Wetzel said.

The Panthers received another tremendous effort from Jasmine Hrimoda as she tallied 25 digs and four aces.

After leading, 18-10, in the third set, Elyria Catholic had to fend off another comeback effort by Keystone as Taylor Stefan added a few kills, helping the Wildcats to storm back and cut the lead to 18-15.

The Panthers retaliated with their senior leadership and smart decision making and came up big in the late stages of the third set. Meghan Allegretto sealed the 25-23 victory for Elyria Catholic with one of her four kills on the evening.

With the win, Elyria Catholic moves on to face No. 3 seeded Brookside on Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Name.

A match that Coach Schuckman knows will be another tough test.

“Brookside has some good hitters. They’re Libero is really good and they will be scrappy. It’s going to be really tough and it should be a really good match, I believe,” Schuckman said.