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Springfield volleyball enjoys block party

BERLIN CENTER — On what might have been the last warm night of the fall, the Springfield volleyball team decided to have a block party.

The Tigers remained in contention for the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference title by downing host Western Reserve 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-14 on Thursday night to improve to 16-3 overall and 11-2 in league play. The Blue Devils dipped to 11-7 overall and 10-3 in the league.

Mineral Ridge was 11-1 in the league before Thursday.

“We had very active hands tonight and did a great job blocking and tipping shots that gave our passers and setters time to run the offense,” Springfield coach Angela Jones said. “We played with intensity and fire and it was great to see. It’s nice to have Jennie Stitzel back and she brings a boost of confidence to the team.”

Stitzel, who had missed all but a few early matches due to injury, totaled 11 kills, three blocks and four aces in her second match back.

“We knew she’s be ready to go after missing all of September and getting her feet wet Monday against Brookfield,” Jones said. “She’s a senior and is hungry to finish the year strong. She’s a strong outside hitter and really helps us put things back together.”

Stitzel helped middle hitter Lyndsey Smith, who finished with 16 kills, five blocks and three aces.

“Lyndsey is amazing and has a knack for knowing when to tip it and knowing when to rocket it,” Stitzel said. “But I thought everyone played amazing. Our back row was fantastic and our setter was getting us the ball in good spots. This was the first time we’ve been back together in such a long time. We had two other injuries, besides mine, and now it’s just all coming together at a good time.”

The Tigers put up 12 blocks for points, several more to continue rallies, and were slowing up many of Western Reserve’s rallies.

“We knew we had to do our share up front to try to slow down (6-foot-2 Blue Devil middle hitter) Dani (Vuletich),” Stitzel said. “She forces you to move your offense around and hit from different spots and that’s why the back row is so important.”

Vuletich provided 15 kills, four blocks and a pair of aces for Western Reserve.

But the Tigers had a 14-7 advantage in blocks and a 15-8 margin in aces. They had five service errors while the Blue Devils had nine.

“We’re still struggling with serve receive and missing serves,” Western Reserve coach Jennifer Lorenzi said. “Tonight we were dealing with some technical things like we weren’t hitting the ball high tonight. We’re not reaching our arms out and getting our elbows up.

“We also put some sets in bad positions and that didn’t help our hitters. (Springfield) played very well tonight. They served well, hits spots and used different corners. So credit to them for having a good game plan and following it.”

Springfield got off to strong starts in each set, including 10-5 in the first, 7-3 in the second, 10-6 and 14-7 in the third and 6-3 in the fourth.

The Blue Devils responded to tie the first set at 14, but fell behind 24-18 and couldn’t recover. The hosts caught Springfield at 15 in the second set and then scored 10 of the next 13 points.

Springfield couldn’t pull away in the third set as Western Reserve stormed back to within 23-22 and appeared to tie the score before a late call (net violation) gave a key point to the Tigers before Stitzel’s kill ended the set.

“I told the girls it seemed like there were times where it looked like we were playing not to lose, and I had to remind them they had to go win it, and they did,” Jones said. “We’ve got to have the confidence and aggressiveness against Jackson-Milton next week.”

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