Photo by Keith Stewart
Okaw Valley head coach Jody McCormick reacts excitedly during her team's game against Decatur LSA Saturday.

September 24, 2014

OV volleyball loses three set heartbreaker to decide third

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

In recent history, the Windsor volleyball tournament hasn’t been the Timberwolves’ best showing. In fact, the last three years, Okaw Valley has failed to make it into any of the top four deciding games, going a combined 2-7. And it was this recent hardship at the Blue Devils’ annual invitational that made the Timberwolves’ fourth place finish all the more surprising, not to mention, pleasing.
“The last three years we’ve been at this tournament the very first match, we weren’t even awake,” said second year head coach Jody McCormick. “I wonder if we even got off the bus. So this year my focus was getting them here early, getting food in their bellies before we even get here, getting them in that intensity mode, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. They worked really hard and pulled through it.”OV inherited Neoga first, a team the Timberwolves lost to each of the last three years, including a three set heartbreaker last year.
This time, it would be the Timberwolves turn to claim a victory, but only after resilient play.
After getting out to a minor, early, lead, OV was tied 6-6 and 7-7, before Neoga began to pull away thanks to three straight unforced errors, prompting a McCormick timeout.
OV caught a break with a Neoga serve going out, and after Amy Orris’ hit deflected off a Neoga outside hitter, Blair Monroe’s short ace tied the game at 10.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Middle hitter Megan Dash eyes a Neoga set during Saturday's Windsor Invitational. Dash would later be named to the all-tournament team for the second year in a row.

But the Indians would embark on a 5-0 run that finished only with an unforced error. Best as they could, OV seemed unable to string together any significant points and soon found themselves down 20-15.
But the Timberwolves weren’t finished. After Madison Fox’s block and kill, a Neoga violation saw the score at 18-20. OV continued to clip away at Neoga’s heels until, down just by one, Nicole Miller’s point-saving dig was followed with a Megan Dash block to tie it at 24-24.
Needing to win by two, both teams went back and forth, each committing unforced errors until, with a one point lead, the Timberwolves’ Dash landed her signature kill to win the first set 28-26.
“Our serving was on. Our hitting was on. We found the holes in their defense, and my kids didn’t let anything hit the floor without a body going with it,” said McCormick. “That’s what I have to have every match, and maybe their ready to bring it now.”
In the second set, after some early back-and-forth points, OV pulled away on a 8-1 run to go up 17-7.
But OV would have to endure Neoga’s own come-back attempt, which at 23-19, prompted an OV timeout. The set would conclude on two Neoga errors, earning OV the 25-20 set and victory.
“We got a little lax there towards the end and let them creep up on us, but that’s something I work so hard to teach these kids, ‘Don’t ever give up’,” said McCormick. “I had one of my players look at the score board, and I said, ‘Don’t even look. Don’t look at that scoreboard. Focus on where that ball is coming so you can pass it. Stay in it. Don’t worry about the score right now. I’ll tell you whether we win or lose.
“My girls were really stepping up,” added the OV coach. “Honestly, I don’t even know what to say. I’m just very happy.”
Okaw Valley then sat out two matches until then playing Ramsey, whom they defeated 25-8, 25-22.
“The first game we handled them pretty easily,” said the OV coach. “Second game, we kind of fell asleep. We kind of got lulled. But we pulled it out.”
The Timberwolves then were to play for a spot in the championship game, but they would have to get through a tough Tuscola squad and a 22-minute timeout.
Out trailing 18-7, OV took a timeout, during which the fire alarm at Windsor high school suddenly went off.
“It was pretty rattling but also kind of a good thing,” said McCormick of the timely break. “It gave my kids a chance to really realize what was going wrong before it got away from them. We still weren’t able to get back in it. 18-7, it was just flat, and flat, and more flat.”
The alarm, which was tripped after a volleyball in the other gym struck the switch, breaking it, finally sounded off after 22 minutes, prompting the first set to resume.
But things did not get better for OV, who instead fell 25-10.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Hayley Carlson goes for a bump during Saturday's Windsor Invitational.

Yet the second set nearly carried with it the same resiliency OV displayed in its first game. The Timberwolves broke a 3-3 tie and went on a 7-0 run before Tuscola bounced back.
A Maddie Allen kill would tie the game at 14-14, and then again soon after at 15-15. Another tie was in store at 17-17 following a Dash block, and after another tie at 22-22, an ace by Kristy Burford earned her team a 23-22 lead, but they would not capitalize. A Tuscola tip and two unforced errors ended the potential comeback as OV fell 23-25.
“I think my kids are tired. You can condition, and condition, and condition in practice and on days like this, the gym is hot,” said McCormick. “We sat out two matches, we played two matches, and then we had the 20 minute break in between, in the match; I’m not making excuses, but they’re tired. I’m hoping we can get our heads back in it and pull out third place.”
Up against Decatur LSA, OV broke a 17-17 tie in the first set and went on a 7-1 run to win 25-18.
In the second, OV clipped at LSA’s heels all game but never overcame one and two point margins, instead falling 25-18 and forcing a third set.
Hotly contested early, the two teams tied six times up until 6-6, when OV went on a 5-0 run and within grasp of third place.
But LSA fought back after an OV kill attempt went out. Olivia Bruntjen’s tip would score, as would an OV shank and hit out, prompting a timeout. The Timberwolves’ would commit a violation out of the break tying the game at 11-11. Three unforced errors by OV gave LSA a 14-11 lead, and the set and game were then decided following Bruntjen’s kill.
“I think we got tired, physically and mentally. We played hard all day, and overcoming, staying mentally tough when the game is 11-11 and you’re only playing to 15–you can’t rely on that two or three point possible cushion,” said McCormick. “They just ran out of gas. I’m proud of them. We played hard  today. I’m hoping we turned around  with some good positive things for our season today.”
For the second year in a row, Megan Dash was named to the Windsor Invitational all-tournament team.