Amherst, Avon teams head for showdown

Both volleyball teams won Division I sectional finals at Midview High School on Oct. 21.

Another showdown between Southwestern Conference volleyball power Amherst and Avon is on the horizon as both teams won Division I sectional finals at Midview High School on Oct. 21.

Amherst proved too tough to handle as the Comets swept Elyria and Avon used aggressive serving to dominate Westlake.

The teams, which split their regular season matchups, will meet in a Grafton District semifinal at 6 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Midview.

Strong net defense has become

an Amherst trademark this season and going nine days without a game hasn’t cooled it a bit. The Comets totaled 13 blocks against Elyria, including a gamehigh six blocks from Tory Small, and the Pioneers’ hitters struggled more and more as the match went on, racking up nearly 30 attacking errors on the day.

“I did not anticipate (Elyria’s) hitting errors,” Amherst coach Laurie Cogan said. “(Elyria’s) got good size, they’ve got good hitters. I said let’s anticipate them going after us and being a little sharper offensively, but I think our block got to them and they tried to do too much to avoid the block and the ball started sailing on them.

“It was a pleasant surprise for us that they committed as many hitting errors as they did.”

Amherst (22-1) was, as Cogan said, running on all cylinders against Elyria. The team combined for 25 kills and over 22 digs, which is impressive considering the margin of victory, and setter London Voss added 22 assists. Payton Jackson led the offense with six kills, Small and Sarah Wiegand had five kills apiece and Faith Rico had four.

“I told them, ‘It’s postseason. We don’t have a choice. You have to be at your best every time you step into Midview or things can happen that will be unfavorable,’ ” Cogan said. “Every day we’ve been in the gym and they’ve gotten better and better . ... I’m very pleased. There wasn’t a weakness in our game today.”

Chelsey Farris led Elyria (10-14) with seven kills and a block and Madi Smith had seven assists and a kill.

Last season, Amherst was swept by Avon in the sectional final, something the Comets haven’t soon forgotten, and Jackson said the team prepared all summer for some postseason redemption. Winning the sectional final was step one. Now Amherst has its third shot at Avon this season — this time in the district semifinal.

“We wanted to come out differently this year,” Jackson said. “We just wanted to execute well and just play our best defense and offense that we possibly could, which we did today, I thought. It was pretty spectacular. It was spot on.

“In the summertime that’s all we’d want to do is beat Avon, beat Avon and when we played them last time we weren’t on our game. We gave them over 50 points, but we can do it this time. I believe we can and I think our whole team believes we can, too.”

Avon wins

Avon advanced to its third straight district semifinal after sweeping Westlake Oct. 21 at Midview.

The Eagles were prepared for Westlake’s notoriously big block and totaled 39 kills in the match, despite being out of system more often than they would like.

“Westlake’s a really strong team and we knew that coming in here we had to play like we’ve had games and not like we’ve been off the last week,” Avon’s Sydney Stone said. “We know they’re a really big and strong blocking team so our hitters really needed to see the hands and our defense needed to be there to cover.”

Stone had a team-high 12 kills for Avon (21-2) while Katie Sopko had nine and Gillian Romanchok seven.

What truly made the difference was Avon’s aggressive serving as the Eagles exploited Westlake’s shaky serve receive. Down, 10-8, in the second set, Zoe Gadomski went on a 10-point service run for Avon to go up, 18-11, and put the set away. Similarly, Taylor Dallas put together a five-point run in the third set to give the Eagles a three-point lead before ultimately winning the set, 25-22.

“Their hitting helped (today), but Zoe and Taylor serving was a huge difference maker,” Avon coach Julie Bendzuck said. “That’s something that I focus on as a coach is if we take time in practice every day to work on aggressive serving. It has to be part of our game. You’re not just putting the ball in play. And those two kids stepped back there, they hit every spot we told them to and did a really great job.”

Leah Schmidt had a game-high 14 kills for Westlake (14-10). Sylvie Yappel added four kills and three blocks and Audrey Lyle had eight kills and two blocks.

Avon gets its third shot at Amherst this season, this time in a district semifinal. The teams split the season series, 1-1, and both teams are excited for a chance to continue the rivalry through the postseason.

“Amherst is a really strong team and it’s always exciting to play them,” Stone said. “We have a rivalry with them and it’s just what makes it fun.”