The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Shoregals go 2-0 at quad match
Avon Lake went 2-0 on Sept. 7. The Shoregals defeated Hubbard in two sets and Elyria in a tough, three-set battle.
AvonLake fought hard frombeginning to end against Elyria. The Shoregals defeated Elyria in the first set, 25-22 and lost the second set, 26-24. At one point, Avon Lake had an eight-point lead during the second set.
“We had a series of unforced errors in that run, which Elyria took advantage of,” Avon Lake head coach Dan Berkheimer said. “Andunfortunatelywhenthe score tightened, so did our play.”
The game slowed down eventually for both teams as the setwas about to finish— Elyria pulled off the comeback.
Elyria head coach Jen Shouse believes the mindset of the team changed during thematch, which helped them secure the victory in the second set.
“I believe in our team and our players,” Shouse said. “When they play together as a teamwe can be difficult to play against. At that point in the match, I saw a switch of focus and energy in the team
that showed they weren’t ready to go home. In the third set, we had our opportunities, but failed to close out the match. Our focus changedfrombeing the aggressors
to timid and afraid to make mistakes. Avon Lake took advantage of that and played aggressively to win thematch.”
It was a flurry of a run by the Pioneers to help them secure the second set win, and an intense battle between the two teams.
However, Avon Lake closed the deal. They went on to defeat Elyria, 25-23, in the last set.
“I was really happy with the fight they showed,” Berkheimer said. “We were down by five at one point, evened it back up. Then we went down by three, and they got to 21st, but we didn’t give up, and our girls fought really hard and found a way to win.”
Avon Lake sophomore outside hitter Maxine Springer believes the battle they went through against Elyria helped strengthen
the chemistry within the team.
“I thought we started off a little bit shaky,” Springer said. “But then at the end we brought it all together and worked together as a team. Really strengthen
that bond.”
Elyria, despite the loss against Avon Lake, had a pretty good day on the court as well. The Pioneers went 2-1, with wins coming against Hubbard andWestlake.
Against Hubbard, they won, 25-17, and 25-10. Against Westlake, they lost 9-25, thenwon the next two: 25-19, 25-21.
“I like that we have a lot of fight in our play at times,” Shouse said. “When we are
focused and want to play aggressively, we can be difficult to defend. We have a lot of hitting options also.”
Westlake went 1-1 on the day, and showed a lot of heart and fight against Hubbard and Elyria.
“The girls are young but they are working extremely hard and doing a lot of good things,” Westlake Coach Meghan Spriggs said. “Very excited to see how they do the rest of the year.”
They sweptHubbard, 2517, and 25-9. Against Elyria they lost in three sets: 25-9, 19-25, 21-25.
The next match for Westlake will be a conference home game Sept. 10 against Amherst. Elyria’s nextmatch will be at home against Strongsville on Sept. 10. Lastly, Avon Lake’s next match will be a conference home game against Midview on Sept. 10.