The Berkshire Badgers boys’ volleyball team understood that they needed to not mess around when they played against Geauga County rival Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II Region 7 quarterfinal last Thursday evening. Berkshire swept its Geauga County rivals 25-10, 25-15 and 25-20 in Burton.
“NDCL is a good team and has a lot of players,” said Coach Tim Percic. “There is a future there but for us, our biggest opponent has been ourselves, so we need to go into this first round and have all of our ducks in a row and that is what we did.”
If the Badgers (11-11) defeat Geauga County foe Chardon in the regional semifinal match on Tuesday, they will advance to the regional finals and play either Villa Angela-St. Joseph or Bard High School in the championship to receive a bid to the Final Four on May 18 at Mentor High School.
After overpowering the Lions 25-10 in the first set, Berkshire (11-11) got off to another fast start in the second set by taking a 7-2 advantage fueled by having some sharp ball contro. However, when the Badgers made some unforced errors, NDCL went on a 6-0 run to take a 9-8 advantage for their first lead in the match.
Junior setter Ryan Kessinger acknowledged that the Badgers may have gotten too ahead of themselves after the first set.
“I just think that it really just came down to us not focusing on the basics,” he noted. “We are trying to a lot as a team. We were focused on playing the next game and not the one we were playing and we got lost in the thick of it.”
Junior right side hitter/setter Colin Boyk delivered four consecutive kills and the Badgers went on a 9-2 run to take a commanding 16-9 lead. After the Lions broke Boyk’s service game, junior outside hitter Mario Romagni also got hot, recording four consecutive aces to continue Berkshire’s momentum.
According to the four-year coach, while the Badgers may not be the biggest team on the court in each match, they can dominate by having pinpoint accuracy on their kills and serves.
“We do not have guys with a lot of experience in club volleyball,” Percic acknowledged. “We heavily rely on our serve to get us started and keep them out of system.”
After a brief scare in the second set, the Badgers dispatched NDCL 25-15 to take a 2-0 advantage into the third set. Berkshire continued getting off to fast starts by racing to an 11-4 lead at the beginning of the third set with some more stellar serving and forced the Lions to make mental mistakes.
In addition to having an accurate service game, the Badgers also have some size in the middle with freshman middle hitter Maddox Fuentes being an iron wall at the net, recording several blocks and kills to stifle NDCL’s attack.
“You need a setter and some big blockers to keep you in the game,” Percic said. “Blocking is a bonus if you can get some blocks and we don’t always get those so it was huge for Maddox to do that.”
The Lions did not go away quietly, engineering an 8-1 run to trim Berkshire’s lead to 20-18 near the end of the third set but the Badgers rebounded with a 5-2 response to clinch victory and advance to the regional semifinal.
Although the Lions were a scrappy opponent, Berkshire had more depth and experience to conquer its Geauga County rivals but junior outside hitter Jacob Starr said he could foresee NDCL becoming a formidable foe for the Badgers next year by returning the bulk of their team.
“Next year they will be coming back having not lost anyone so it will be more competition,” he said.
While Berkshire made quick work of the Lions, they also ran a few new plays that it hoped could be of help to fuel the Badgers to a deeper postseason run than last year.
“We were hoping for a positive result but to have the opportunity to work on some things too,” noted Percic. “NDCL can put it together. We always hope that we win and it is a matter of getting the job done so we have to focus and find those opening where we can run plays and things like that.”
Although Berkshire did not carry much momentum into the playoffs, having lost four of its last five, Percic said the Badgers used those final matches to incorporate some new offensive schemes that it could unveil in some playoff matches to gain an advantage.
Romagni added despite failing to record victories, the Badgers have hit a new gear to propel themselves forward in the postseason.
“We have formed an unbreakable bond this season especially in the latter half of the season,” he said.
