doing my best impersonation of lawnboy, I wrote the following recap

 

Freshman Game - a very competitive match, going three sets, with Saint Henry earning the victory.

JV - St. Henry ruled this from start to finish, winning in two.

 

Varsity

Game 1

As the score would indicate, this one was a back an forth battle from the beginning, with the Colonels jumping out to 15-10 lead. After a timeout, the Crusaders regrouped and tied the match at 17 all before making it 17-19 in their favor. Dixie however would not got away and reclaimed the lead 21-20. That was as close as they would come to victory however, as they fell to the Crusaders serve for the final point of the match 23-25.

Game 2

This one saw St. Henry take control from start to finish, and was never in question. The Colonels seemed to lose all confidence for most of the match.

Game 3

The next set appeared to be headed the same way as its predecessor, as the Cru jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, and then expanded to 16-8, before Leah Metzger made a kill and went to the serving line. At the end of her run the Colonels had pulled to within a narrow margin, but the Crusaders quickly opened up the lead again to 21-16. To their credit Dixie would not go away, and began to gain enough momentum to force St. Henry into taking a late timeout. In the end the effort served to be too little to late, as the Crusaders held on to a 25-20 victory, earning them the top seed in the 24th district.

With the loss Dixie is now the 3 seed in the district, and will face Villa Madonna in the first round.

doing my best impersonation of lawnboy, I wrote the following recap

 

Freshman Game - a very competitive match, going three sets, with Saint Henry earning the victory.

JV - St. Henry ruled this from start to finish, winning in two.

 

Varsity

Game 1

As the score would indicate, this one was a back an forth battle from the beginning, with the Colonels jumping out to 15-10 lead. After a timeout, the Crusaders regrouped and tied the match at 17 all before making it 17-19 in their favor. Dixie however would not got away and reclaimed the lead 21-20. That was as close as they would come to victory however, as they fell to the Crusaders serve for the final point of the match 23-25.

Game 2

This one saw St. Henry take control from start to finish, and was never in question. The Colonels seemed to lose all confidence for most of the match.

Game 3

The next set appeared to be headed the same way as its predecessor, as the Cru jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, and then expanded to 16-8, before Leah Metzger made a kill and went to the serving line. At the end of her run the Colonels had pulled to within a narrow margin, but the Crusaders quickly opened up the lead again to 21-16. To their credit Dixie would not go away, and began to gain enough momentum to force St. Henry into taking a late timeout. In the end the effort served to be too little to late, as the Crusaders held on to a 25-20 victory, earning them the top seed in the 24th district.

With the loss Dixie is now the 3 seed in the district, and will face Villa Madonna in the first round.

 

Well done sir, well done.

Thanks Sandman. Great job with the play by play.

Thanks Sandman. Great job with the play by play.

I kinda missed imputing names for the St. Henry kids because I don't know them as well and wasn't keeping up with which hitter was doing what. Understandably I was somewhat in shock to see Dixie compete as well as we did in that first set and it kinda through me off. lol SH's libero impressed me and one of the other DS's. They didn't let much hit the floor. Also they have a few hitters which can elevate pretty nicely as well.

 

Perrin Long for Dixie had a nice night too, along with Sr. Emma Alkofer at the serving line in the third set. Due to injury Metzger had to play setter for the Freshman and JV teams before playing OH/DS for the varsity. Both teams setters were hurt last week and we have no one else even remotely capable of taking over. It was the first time in three years that Leah has ever played anything but varsity. When asked after the match if she was tired she said "no, I could've gone five sets no problem." Coach Long regretted the necessity to ask her to do it. " I should've remembered when I asked her to help us out that Leah only has one speed. I was concerned that she would be wore out before the varsity match even began, but I watched the elevation of her jump serve and court speed all evening, especially at the end of the third set, and it was consistent. Playing at an elite level in Club ball prepares you for things like this. Thank God. Not many kids could do what she just did."

 

It was obvious to me that St. Henry was the better team. Coach Kaiser's reputation as one of the top coaches is well deserved. Her teams looked very polished for the most part, and her staff is top notch.