The Berkshire Badgers volleyball team could not sustain their momentum entering the playoffs. Berkshire’s postseason ended early when Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division foe Kirtland ousted them from Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Northeast I Medina sectional championship 26-24, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19) last Saturday at Lakeview High School in Cortland.
“Our block did not do enough to neutralize them so that was a huge part of why they won and while all year we had done a good job of serving aggressively and getting the other team out of system, we were not able to do that,” said Coach Joni Prots. “If you put those two things together, we were able to push the ball to those two outside hitters pretty frequently and regularly but our block did not do enough to neutralize them.”
Although the Badgers (18-5, 9-1) finally captured a share of the CVC Valley Division title for the first time since the 2017 season, Kirtland still had their number.
After losing the first match against the Hornets on Sep. 12, the 19th-year coach said that loss served as a wake-up call for her squad and they responded by winning 15 of their next 16 contests, including a road victory against Kirtland on Sep. 28, soaring into a tie for first place for the league title.
Berkshire’s dominant regular season earned it the fifth seed in the tournament, but it joined a loaded bracket consisting of second seeded Crestview, third seeded Lakeview and Kirtland, which was seeded 11th but Prots said that seed was misleading.
According to Prots, in the first two matches against Kirtland this season the Hornets were without senior outside hitter Georgia DeJohn but she returned in time for the playoffs, giving Kirtland another weapon in its offense.
On Saturday, the Badgers took 9-3 lead in the first set, but Kirtland staged a comeback and prevailed with a 26-24 victory in a tightly contested battle.
Prots acknowledged losing the first set dictated the rest of the match for Berkshire.
“Momentum-wise and so forth it is always a big one in all three matches that we played the team that won the first set ended up winning the match,” she added. “I definitely think it was a big key especially since they had to work to come back on us and were able to come away with the win in that first set.”
She also said that Kirtland capitalized on the Badgers’ rotations when senior outside hitter Maddie Smetana was playing in the back row. Without Berkshire’s star offensive player in the front row, Kirtland went on several runs before stealing victory in the first set.
Berkshire responded to win the second set 25-23 and Prots said the Badgers demonstrated better ball control both with their passing and with their shots at the net, which unlike in the first set, landed on the mark.
The Badgers’ momentum faded in the third and fourth sets as Kirtland was ignited by the offense of DeJohn and senior outside hitter Nina Loncar and the Hornets claimed the rubber match, winning the third set 25-18 and the fourth set 25-19 to advance to the district semifinal.
“They had both of their outside hitters playing in that match, so we did not necessarily get a break from a threat from the outside when they had both of them,” Prots said. “We got stuck in a couple of rotations without Maddie in the front row, so they were able to go on a couple of runs while we were in those rotations so that just helped them.”
In spite of Berkshire’s early exit from the playoffs and marking the final game for the four seniors, Smetana recorded her 1,000th career kill.
“It just shows that hard work will pay off,” Prots said. “She is a kid that came in as a freshman still learning her game and she worked hard at both Berkshire and during her Junior Olympic season to refine her game and become smart and become that player even with a big block in front of her, could still get a kill when she needed to. It was really nice to see that pay off for her and represent to other people in the program that if you are willing to put in the work than that is something that you can accomplish.”
Smetana became only the third player to join the 1,000 kill club for Berkshire in Prots’ coaching tenure with the program.
Although the Badgers are only graduating four seniors, Prots acknowledged there will be some big shoes to fill with Smetana, Sammi Winter and Hayley Stoddard all being four-year varsity starters.
