The Crestwood Red Devils’ volleyball team’s winless start to the season is no more. The Red Devils earned their first two victories when they defeated Portage County rival Ravenna 25-6, 25-19 then swept Chagrin Valley Conference rival Harvey 25-11, 25-19 in a tri-match last Saturday at James L. Coll Gymnasium in Ravenna.
“I think we are still building,” said Crestwood Coach Wanda Hoffman. “Saturday was a very good day for us and coming into both matches on Saturday we had talked to the girls about the need to get some wins and we need to start getting on the upswing here. We still have very tough league matches coming up but I was very proud of them.”
Prior to the Red Devils’ (2-5, 0-0) triumphant day, they had scuffled to an 0-5 start to the season. Having finally snapped their losing streak, there is a sense of optimism that Crestwood can begin turning things around.
“We have basically a whole new team this year,” said senior utility player Abby Hayes. “It is a little different and not a lot of people played at this level, but we have been working hard and playing together well.”
On Saturday, the Red Devils’ first match came against Ravenna (1-8, 0-4), which had just lost a hard-fought match to Harvey, losing 25-19, 22-25, 25-22.
It marked the first time the Portage County rivals had faced each other since the 2014 season, when each belonged to the Portage Trail Conference Metro Division. After that season, the Red Devils transferred to the Portage Trail Conference County Division.
According to Ravens’ Coach Sara Haldi, it was long overdue for the Portage County rivals to finally play each other again.
“I look forward to hopefully getting them worked into our schedule more often over the years to come,” Ravenna’s nine-year coach added.
Crestwood enjoyed a fast start in the first set, racing ahead 9-6 and then pulled away with a strong serving game,
The 5-foot-6 Hayes keyed the Red Devils 16-0 run, recording 10 aces in the process to clinch a decisive 25-6 victory.
“I was just trying to find the spots and focusing on getting it over and in and just seeing their weaknesses,” she said.
The Red Devils’ 26-year coach credited Hayes for her serves.
“I am very proud of her,” she said. “She is a good confident server, and it is nice to have her in that back line. She was aggressive and she was spot serving, and she got a couple of good aces.”
Although Crestwood took another early lead in the second set with 9-3 advantage, the Ravens stormed back on an 11-3 run, taking a 14-12 lead.
Junior utility player Jackie Blasiole acknowledged that the Ravens had made some adjustments.
“We didn’t have much effort going in because we didn’t have to do much after all of the serves the first set,” she noted. “We just had to warm up more and actually play.”
Ravenna was on the verge of pulling away by holding an 18-15 lead, but the Red Devils countered with a 10-1 run, ignited by some precise hitting, to seal the sweep.
In Crestwood’s second match, it once again used a quick start in the first set to take a commanding 10-1 lead using some crisp rotations on the block. They did not relinquish their advantage and rode a 15-10 surge to win the first set 25-11.
The Red Raiders made some necessary adjustments in the second set and it was a tightly contested affair, knotted at 9-9.
Hoffman acknowledged that one of Crestwood’s biggest learning curves this year has been adjusting to their opponents’ adjustments to recapture momentum. Following a back-and-forth start, the Red Devils once again dominated in the serving game as Hayes delivered four consecutive aces to propel Crestwood to another sweep to cap off the day.
“At practice on Friday, we were really focusing on being stronger at the net,” Hoffman said. “We do have some really strong servers and a lot of teams we played will get that overpass on the serve receive because the serve is so aggressive, and I told them we need to be more aggressive at the net, so we don’t get beat on those balls coming over.”
Following a road duel against CVC Valley Division foe Rootstown on Tuesday and another road match against conference rival Chagrin Falls on Thursday, Crestwood will stay on the road and face Massillon Washington on Saturday at noon.
Meanwhile, after a home duel against Portage County and Metro Athletic Conference rival Streetsboro on Tuesday and a home match against conference foe Akron Coventry on Thursday, the Ravens will hit the road to take on Portage County foe Kent Roosevelt on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.
