The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lancers reign in fiveset thriller
Gilmour scores final four points, captures Division II state crown
VANDALIA » The Gilmour volleyball team saved its best for last.
On a day in which not everything went perfect for the state’s top-ranked Division II team, the Lancers battled back from a 1311 deficit in the fifth and deciding set to beat longtime rival Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, 16-25, 2519, 25-22, 21-25, 15-13.
Down, 13-11, and with NDCL serving, Gilmour turned to hitter Kathryn Randorf four straight times. And all four times, the 6-foot-1 junior responded with kills.
When the final spike hit the floor of the hands of an NDCL blocker, the Lancers stormed the floor and celebrated their first state championship since 2015.
“I put my trust in Kathryn,” said senior setter Ava Nestor, “and I knew she was going to put the ball down.”
Coach Danny Coughlin, who secured his 400th career victory in the state semifinal victory (the state final was win No. 401), said the plan wasn’t necessarily to go to Randorf every time, but he did admit, “We’ve got to get the ball to who’s hot.”
That was Randorf, who had a match-high 24 kills.
“We do a lot of out-of-system work in practice,” Coughlin said. “One of our last plays of the game was out of system. It wasn’t new to us. We’ve been used to playing those balls. It was almost inside our comfort zone.
The win was a rematch of a regular-season match won by Gilmour in shorter fashion, 25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-18.
This one felt different from the get-go.
NDCL grabbed the early momentum with a 25-16 win in the first, with setter Eva Wheeler reacting quickly for a kill to end the set.
But Gilmour, which trailed Bishop Hartley, 2-1, in a regional semifinal, rallied with wins in the second and third sets.
Jocelyn Carter, who had a big day with 15 kills and five blocks, rifled a spike to an NDCL defender’s cheek to clinch the second set. And then a service error gave the Lancers the third set, 25-22.
Ray reminded his team over and over that his Lions weren’t expected to win, which motivated them for the fourth set. When sophomore Caroline Jurevicius (team-high 19 kills) blasted
a kill off a blocker’s hands, the Lions won the fourth set, 25-21, to pull even in the match, 2-2.
“Oh yeah, I pushed that (underdog) button every timeout,” Ray said. “They came out and responded. This team is never going to quit. They’re never going to give up. We proved that today.”
NDCL took a 10-9 lead on a pair of Wheeler service points in the fifth set.
Even when Gilmour’s Sabrina Gremm (14 kills) put down a spike to even things at 10, a Lauren Janosy kill and a Gilmour hitting error — one of an uncharacteristic 31 hitting errors on the day for the Lancers — gave the Lions a 12-10 lead.
Carter hammered a kill to cut the deficit to 12-11. When Jurevicius recorded a kill, the 13-11 lead looked safe.
Until Randorf went on her
match-ending, four-kill run.
“She’s tough,” Ray said of Randorf. “She’s a tough kid to stop. You’re not going to stop here. We focused on slowing her down.”
NDCL had a better kill percentage (.235 to Gilmour’s .194), less hitting errors (22 to Gilmour’s 31) and more blocks (16.5 to Gilmour’s nine).
Aside from Jurevicius’ 19 kills and six block assists, the Lions got 18 kills
from Hanna Bissler and 10 kills from Janosy. Wheeler had 46 assists, while Alexa Brock’s 17 digs led the team.
“I thought we played a very good match, stat-wise and fundamental-wise,” Ray said.
Besides Randorf (24), Carter (15) and Gremm (14) leading the hit parade, Nestor had a match-high 55 assists. Emmy Klika led both teams with 22 digs.
“I knew it was going to be a game of emotion,” Coughlin said. “All these kids know everybody on the other team. They know us. They play on the same (junior Olympic) teams. It was going to be more of a game of emotion.
“Yeah, we beat them in four earlier this year, but in the state championship, anything goes.”
While the Lancers applauded their coach for his 401st career win — “That’s cool. That’s really cool,” Randorf said — Coughlin shrugged it off.
“I’m happy with the result today,” he said. “The number (401) just tells me I’ve been doing this too long.”