Cardinal Huskies’ volleyball Coach Michael Chaffee acknowledged that it has not been an ideal start for his team this season. Cardinal is hoping to have turned a corner after recording a 1-1 record in a tri-match by defeating Chagrin Valley Conference rival Madison 21-25, 25-23, 25-17 and being bested by CVC foe Chagrin Falls 25-19, 16-25, 21-25 last Saturday at the Ralph L. Quessinberry Gymnasium in Chagrin Falls.
“I think we have been playing pretty well but we haven’t been able to get over that hump and get a win,” the first-year coach said. “Volleyball is such a momentum game. On Saturday, I felt like we finally got consistent momentum and that was really good for us. We tweaked our offense a little bit for and we tried to simplify it a little bit and I think it allowed us to play a lot more consistently so we are going to build on that.”
Entering the tri-match on Saturday, the Huskies (1-4, 0-0) had lost nine consecutive sets in their first three matches. The skid reached ten sets when Madison defeated them 25-21 in the first set.
According to Chaffee, one of the biggest challenges for Cardinal this season has been its lack of height, only having three players that are 5-foot-6 or taller.
Madison appeared to be on the verge of closing the match out by holding a 23-15 lead in the second set and handing Cardinal its fourth straight loss. But the Huskies’ service game propelled them on a 10-0 run to stage a comeback victory and finally win their first set of the season,
The Huskies jumped ahead 6-3 in the third set and stayed in control, winning 25-17 and earn its first victory of the young season.
“We played really well and then we started strong and then we jumped up 6-3 early and we led the rest of the way,” Chaffee noted. “It lifted the weight off of our chest a little bit after starting the year 0-3.”
Chaffee added that Cardinal’s key to turning the match around was because of its service games, as senior middle hitter Morgan Csontos recorded four aces in the Huskies’ rally in the second set to swing the momentum in their favor.
“We have not been getting many aces,” Chaffee said. “I told our kids earlier in the week that we are serving efficiently but not necessarily effectively. Sometimes the other team is just really good defensively, but Saturday was really our first breakout of putting together multiple point runs when we were serving which was a positive.”
Cardinal’s momentum carried over into its second match against the Tigers, when it took a 1-0 lead after winning the first set by a 25-19 margin.
Chagrin Falls responded by capturing the second set 25-19, setting up another third and decisive set.
Chaffee said that the Huskies stayed in striking distance, never trailing by more than four points but could not close the gap. Chagrin Falls stayed in control by relying on a rotation that featured its tallest players in the front row and the Huskies could not get their opponents out of rhythm.
“They had a rotation where they had some size up front and we had a hard time breaking them a couple of times,” Chaffee acknowledged. “They had a three or four-point run of serving and in our largest run, we had about three.”
Chagrin Falls closed out the match by winning the third set 25-21. Chaffee said that although the Huskies settled for a 1-1 record in the tri-match, his squad finally found that breakthrough moment it had been yearning for this year.
In addition to not having a very tall team, Cardinal only returns four players with significant varsity experience in Csontos, senior setter Maddie Ehrhardt, junior outside hitter Maggie Grant and junior outside hitter Ali Puruczky.
As the Huskies have been trying to define certain roles on the team, Chaffee has scheduled his team to compete against some stiff competition in hopes of toughening them up before they begin Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division play.
While the results have not been as good as he has hoped, Chaffee said that it has allowed Cardinal to make some necessary adjustments to its scheme.
“Would we love to be 5-0,” he mused. “Yes we would love to be 5-0 but we could have been 5-0 and played five cupcakes and not shown the growth and not learned what we needed to learn the way I think we have learned.”
Cardinal improved its record to 2-4 (0-0) when it defeated Grand Valley 21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-14 on Monday evening.
Following a home match against Andrews Osbourne Academy on Tuesday evening and a home match against CVC rival Lakeside on Thursday night, the Huskies will return to the court after Labor Day to face Saint John School in Ashtabula on Sep. 3 beginning at 5 p.m.
