Boardman opens playoffs with victory
Trending
BOARDMAN -- As expected, Boardman had little trouble taking care of Cleveland St. Martin de Porres on Thursday to open the postseason.
The fifth-seeded Spartans breezed past the 40th-seeded Lions in straight sets (25-3, 25-6, 25-8) to advance to the Division III, Northeast 4, district semifinals.
"I thought that we played well," Boardman head coach Rebecca Martinez said. "We kind of were going to try and treat it like a practice and work on things. I told the girls, four or less errors on a lot of things, like serving, four or less errors on serve receives. So we were able to do those things, and we had a good outcome."
Boardman kicked off the match with 10 consecutive points and 18 of the first 19. Although St. Martin earned two of three points in the latter part of the set, the Spartans closed strong to take the first set 25-3.
The second and third sets went similarly, and the wide margin allowed Martinez to extensively use her bench as Boardman cruised to 25-6 and 25-8 wins in the final two sets, respectively.
"It’s hard to keep the girls focused," Martinez said. "But we came into this, and we weren’t really sure. There wasn’t a lot of information out there, so we had to come in with an open concept and just be ready for a really hard team or ready for a not-so-hard team. But we were able to get some of our younger girls in, and I think that that also mattered, too."
With the win, Boardman improved to 17-6 on the season and clinched a spot in next Tuesday's district semifinals, where the Spartans will play No. 12 Tallmadge in Boardman. The Blue Devils outlasted No. 15 Kenston in a five-set match that delayed Boardman's contest Thursday.
"It was really nice [to watch them in person] because all our girls were here too. So they’ll be able to chip in ideas, thoughts and how we can beat them," Martinez said. "Even for us coaches, it’s nice because now we know their numbers and faces, so we can play how we want to in practice to beat them.
"I think that was the goal when we were picking our seed, to hopefully host at least the first two, and then we go to Girard for the last one, so we’re even close for that last one. And it’s nice because our fans can follow us. So I think that’s important, and I think that they feed off some of that energy sometimes, so to have everybody with us is great."
When they take the floor in Boardman next week, the Spartans hope to maintain their rediscovered momentum. After 14 wins in a row, a streak that spanned more than a month during the season, Boardman lost three out of four before closing the regular season with a victory against Lakeview.
"I think it was helpful," Martinez said of the Lakeview win. "We did talk to the girls, the postseason is kind of like a 0-0 record at this point, so we also emphasized that it was great to get a win against Lakeview, and it was on senior night, and it boost up the seniors a little bit, boost up our girls. But again, we’re coming into the postseason 0-0, so it’s up to us to kind of decide our own fate at this point."