St. Ursula volleyball sweeps Walsh Jesuit

Toledo St. Ursula Academy's Madison Strall, center, leaps into the arms of her teammates after they won the Division I semifinal. SPECIAL TO THE BLADE/SKIP PETERSON Enlarge | Photo Reprints

FAIRBORN, Ohio -- St. Ursula Academy's volleyball team can finally address it -- the possibility of repeating as Division I state champions.OBJECTThroughout this season the Arrows were placed under a gag order of sorts by coach John Buck from discussing their perfect record, their staggering win streak, or dreaming about making a return to the title game. Now, there's nothing else to talk about.

Unbeaten and top-ranked SUA will try to defend its 2010 title Saturday after securing a spot in the final with a three-game sweep Friday afternoon of Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit at the Nutter Center at Wright State University. The Arrows (28-0) prevailed 25-16, 27-25, 25-18 in the second of two semifinals and kept in tact a postseason streak in which they've yet to lose a game in six matches.

"There's a lot of pressure because you were down here last year, so everyone's going to gun for you," senior Madison Strall said. "That was last year, and we had to focus on this year."

PHOTO GALLERY: St. Ursula defeats Walsh Jesuit

The championship, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., will feature the teams ranked No. 1 and 2 all season long. Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame dispatched Findlay, 25-21, 26-28, 25-15, 25-15, and squashed northwest Ohioans' hopes of Saturday's final being a rematch of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference championship game.

"It was nice to see two from our league get down here," said Buck, whose team has won 48 straight matches. "Now we have to look forward to game planning for tomorrow's match because, obviously, we're going to have our hands full."

Early on it appeared SUA was going to steamroll a Walsh Jesuit squad that looked overwhelmed by the moment. The Arrows "blocked extremely well," in Buck's judgment, and their hitters took turns smashing unreturnable balls. It was a level of domination often seen at districts, sometimes at regionals, but rarely at state. Missy Sturm's Warriors (20-8) rode a 10-match win streak into the day, but she joked she didn't recognize her players in the first game and attributed the sluggish start to her team's lack of experience combined with SUA's familiarity with its state tournament surroundings.

"We started off blocking well and controlling the net," Buck said. "That's one of the things we've been focusing on. Credit [Walsh], they kept serving aggressive in game two to take us out of our offense."

St. Ursula's Erin Williams, 4, puts the block on the shot of Walsh Jesuit's Emma Klein, 10, during the semi-final game of the OHSAA Div. I girls state volleyball tourney played at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio. SPECIAL TO THE BLADE/SKIP PETERSON Enlarge | Photo Reprints

The Arrows squandered leads of 10-2 and 14-6 in game two before trailing 24-22 and desperately needing a point to keep the game alive. Their blocking had lost its effectiveness, and Walsh was gaining confidence. Consecutive kills by SUA's Katie McKernan and Maddie Burnham knotted the game at 24-24. The Arrows benefitted from a ball handling error to reach game point before giving it back when Erin Williams served long. A double-hit call gave SUA another game point, and Burnham followed with a kill to prevent what would have been a heartbreaking collapse.

"Of course we were all nervous, but you never say never," said Strall, who assisted on Burnham's kill. "That's our little line right now. We just never give up and put all of our effort into it."

In game three, SUA scored 12 of the final 17 points after the score was tied at 13-13. Cassidy Croci tallied four of her 12 kills in the frame, and freshman Lauran Graves (nine kills) scored the final two points.

With the score 23-16, SUA's student section chanted "Just like soccer," in reference to the Arrows' upset win over Walsh on Wednesday in the state semifinals.

No matter the outcome, Saturday will mark the end of the road for SUA's six seniors, who have been together since eighth grade, when Buck guided them to a runner-up finish in the national tournament.

"Tomorrow's going to mean a lot for us," Strall said. "We're really going to want it because it's going to be our last time playing with each other because some of the girls might not play travel [volleyball]. It's going to be a big deal."

Findlay falls

Findlay coach Bob Moran has seen his team claw back from deficits so many times this season that he had no reason to believe it wouldn't happen again against second-ranked Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame.

But the hard-serving, tall, and athletic Cougars were a little too much to overcome, and Findlay's surprise tournament run ended in a 25-21, 26-28, 25-15, 25-15 loss.

"I wasn't giving up on them [even] at the last point," Moran said. "They can do it, and they've shocked us all year by doing stuff like that."

The main issue for the Trojans (22-6) was MND's excellent 6-foot-1 junior Michelle Strizak. Strizak was virtually unstoppable, smashing the ball with authority at the net, and doing the same when she rotated to the back row. Her 61 attacks yielded 20 kills, and her serve, which was heavy with top spin, brought six aces. With Strizak serving, MND had runs of 6-0 and 4-0 in the third and fourth games to bury the Trojans.

"The top spins were dying," Moran said. "We had them cheat way up on her. You just have to pass the ball on the top spin."

For Findlay, Allison Twining totaled nine kills and five blocks, and All-Ohioan junior Kayce Krucki recorded eight kills and 16 digs.

The Trojans exhibited considerable poise in the second game after losing a 23-19 lead and again when miscommunication led to an ace that put them down 25-24. From there Bria Bronston had a kill and Krucki added another point when she found a vacant spot at the left side on the front court. A Twining block of Strizak ultimately ended a frantic game.

"The first game, after we lost, we knew we could come back and win because we've done it so many times before," Krucki said. "The second game, we came out and had nothing to lose. We just pushed through it. We just never gave up because we knew we needed that game."

Findlay loses two seniors -- Lainy Foltz (10 digs) and Erin Gilbert (no stats) -- and Moran said he has "big hopes" for next season.

Contact Ryan Autullo at: rautullo@theblade.com, 419-724-6160 or on Twitter @RyanAutullo.