Lady Hawks Advance

Central Lee makes fewer errors in victory over Mediapolis.

By GARY HADENFELDT

sports@thehawkeye.com

MEDIAPOLIS — Tuesday night's Class 2A district high school volleyball final between Central Lee and Mediapolis at Vernon "Bud" McLearn Court boiled down to one key aspect of the game — mistakes.

As it turned out, the district championship hinged upon which team made the fewer mistakes.

In the end, it was the Lady Hawks who celebrated the district crown. After a slow start, Central Lee (22–11) came away with a 17–25, 25–18, 25–20, 18–25, 15–12 victory and a berth in a 7 p.m. regional semifinal against Mid–Prairie (26–9) Thursday in Wellman.

Of the 65 points scored by the Lady Hawks in their three game wins, 44 were the result of Mediapolis errors.

"Basically what it came down to was who was going to make the least amount of mistakes," said Mediapolis coach Dennis Jandrey, whose team ends its season at 24–13. "When it's rally scoring and you are given points on everything, you'd better take care of your side of the net — more so than ever before."

"We didn't have a very good game 1 and they didn't have a good game 2," Central Lee coach Don Ford said. "It was seesaw throughout game 5. They made more mistakes at the end, which put us over the top."

After battling back from a two–games–to–one deficit to force a final game, the Bullettes got generous again in the deciding contest.

Of the 15 Central Lee points in the game, 11 — including the final eight — came off of Mediapolis errors.

"I counted seven hitting errors alone in game 5," Jandrey said. "We missed two serves — that's nine points right there."

At the outset, it was the Lady Hawks who were in a giving mood. Sparked by four kills from Lydia Ertz and aided by 12 points off Central Lee errors, the Bullettes seemed to seize momentum by storming to the opening–game win.

"They played well and we didn't," Ford said. "We knew we had to pick up our game. In the second and third games we got more aggressive."

"We had a lot of errors, but they came out really pumped up," said Central Lee sophomore setter Megan Weirather. "Then we got into it."

Nineteen points off Mediapolis errors were key in game 2, but two lengthy serving runs by Weirather gave the Lady Hawks a needed boost.

Weirather's four–point run broke a 9–9 deadlock, then a three–point run put Central Lee at game point.

"I've had a hard time serving this year," Weirather said. "This game kind of helped me out some."

The Lady Hawks built a 15–10 advantage in game 3 on Alycia Hopp's five–point serving run. Then Hopp's kill — following one of Lisa Thornburg's five blocks in the match — closed out the game.

Central Lee was seemingly on its way to closing out the match in four games when a Thornburg kill produced the first point in game 4. But Mediapolis was not done yet.

Almost single–handedly, outside hitter Meta Kramer — one of just two seniors on the team — fueled the Bullettes' game 4 victory.

Kramer slammed seven kills in the game, including four straight to put Mediapolis up 10–4.

Three more kills by Kramer, a pair of hitting errors, and two straight aces on Amber Scott's serve ballooned a 12–6 Mediapolis advantage to 19–6.

Though they would eventually lose the game, the Lady Hawks did claw their way back into it — an occurrence Ford felt was crucial.

"We worked our way back up and put a scare into them," Ford said. "We made them use their two timeouts.

"I thought that got our confidence back. If we had not come back, they would have had all the momentum for game 5."

The deciding game was hard–fought throughout. The final margin of victory was the largest lead held by either team in the game.

Like a microcosm of the match, mistakes played a key role in deciding the outcome. Central Lee made the fewer, handing Mediapolis just eight points. Kills by Hopp, Weirather, and Erin Ruth combined with a block for a point by Ceara Kirchner did the rest.

Central Lee

Kills — Erin Ruth 8, Alycia Hopp 6, Lisa Thornburg 4, Ceara Kirchner 4, Megan Weirather 2

Assists — Weirather 23

Serving — Hopp 3 aces, Weirather 2 aces

Blocks — Thornburg 5, Kirchner 2

Digs — Ruth 23, Weirather 19, Hopp 16, Erin Hawes 12, Kirchner 11, Thornburg 5

Mediapolis

Kills — Lydia Ertz 13, Meta Kramer 10, Bethany Weber 9, Lauren Nelson 5

Assists — Emily Kester 28, Marissa Dideriksen 5

Serving — Kester 9–13 (1 ace), Kramer 12–13, Jennifer Nelson 20–20, Amber Scott 10–12 (2 aces), Molly Petersen 5–6, Aurey Kramer 15–16, Brittny Wagenbach 14–18 (1 ace)

Blocks — Weber 5, L.Nelson 4, Kester 3

Digs — M.Kramer 13, Wagenbach 6, A.Kramer 5, Scott 4