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Volleyball Tigers get homework after win

NEW MIDDLETOWN — Although the Springfield volleyball team posted a bounce-back win by beating neighboring Poland 3-0 on Monday, the Tigers were a tad too inconsistent for third-year coach Angela Jones.

“I gave our girls some homework tonight. They have to write a paragraph about why we’re playing flat and inconsistent,” she said. “We looked too passive for my liking.”

Jones felt the Tigers should’ve been hungrier and more aggressive after coming off a pair of losses last week.

“We took two tough league losses on our home floor last week and maybe that has something to do with it,” Jones said. “We lost to Western Reserve in five sets and to Mineral Ridge in four sets. I gave them a few days off because I felt we needed it mentally.

“But I expected them to come back hungry and we came back flat, so now I’m second-guessing myself. We’re going to really work on some things in practice Wednesday after playing Lowellville (on Tuesday).”

The Tigers, who improved to 9-2 overall, defeated Poland by identical scores of 25-13 in the first and second games before getting more of a battle from the Bulldogs in the third game, winning it 25-20.

Springfield is awaiting the return of senior outside hitter Jennie Stitzel, who was injured in the first week of September.

“We are a little banged up, but it’s possible we could have Jennie back this week, so we’re excited about that,” Jones said. “We may not have played great tonight, but we have a very talented team and we’re going to put it all together here soon I hope.”

Poland fell to 4-6 overall and also is trying to put things together.

“This is the first time our eight seniors haven’t had a new coach in high school,” second-year coach Martina Dinello said. “So they suffered through the changes and inconsistencies. We’re working on building things. We’re fixing things here and there, trying to plug holes, nicks and crannies.

“Our season has been up and down like a roller coaster. We get on a streak and are doing good things and then we fall off. We feed off the highs, but we struggle with the lows.”

With 6-foot senior middle hitter Lyndsey Smith leading the way, the Tigers dominated Poland at the net. Smith had 13 kills to go with 11 points and three aces. Carly Stitzel added five kills, Ally Sauerwein had two blocks and Lauren Ranelli had 17 assists, nine points and four aces. Carlee Bacon added 17 digs.

“When Lyndsey gets her body tall and tight, she can can really swing hard,” Jones said. “But we have to get her the ball in good positions. We’re trying to get her to be a little more active up on the net in blocking, especially because she wants to pursuit next level.

“Lauren Ranelli has stepped up real nice and she’s really vocal. She provides a lot of knowledge and is a strong leader.”

For Poland, Lauren Melillo had five kills, Kenzie Szolek had 10 digs and Maddie Wess had seven assists.

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