It began as a day of celebration for the Cardinal Huskies’ volleyball team as they honored Coach Michael Chaffee for reaching his 600th coaching victory. It ended on a on a disappointing note as Cardinal was swept by Youngstown Ursuline 25-19, 25-19, and 25-23 last Saturday afternoon in Middlefield.
“I knew what we were going into and I think we played well in each set. One of our strengths all year is that we have given up limited runs and in each of those sets, we gave up a five-point run,” noted the third-year coach. “We struggled with one of their hitters and that was the separation of the match.”
It marked the second consecutive loss for the Huskies (17-4, 15-1), as they have been swept in consecutive games, but Chaffee acknowledged that Cardinal has faced stout non-conference opponents, which should help prepare them for postseason action in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division VII playoffs.
“You want to find what you think is the best recipe and I have wanted to play two teams that I knew were good,” said Chaffee. “They had size, and we have struggled with teams that have size.”
In the first set, the teams traded points and the Huskies seized 16-14 lead in the middle of the set, but Youngstown Ursuline responded with a 6-0 run to take a 20-16 edge and maintained its lead to win the first set 25-16.
According to sophomore outside hitter Lillian Rulong, Cardinal faced difficulties defending against a taller Fighting Irish front row, and their outside hitters and middle blockers had a distinct size advantage.
“I think their height is what got us,” Rulong acknowledged. “We are a short team so since they have some tall blockers, I think that is what defeated us.”
In the second set, it was another back-and-forth affair, but the Fighting Irish used another big run to take control, scoring seven unanswered points to go ahead 16-7, propelling them to win the set by a 25-19 margin.
In the third set, the Huskies used a big run to take control, scoring five straight points to go ahead 15-10 but Ursuline countered with a 5-0 surge, fueled by strong play from its front row and some unforced errors by Cardinal, tying the set at 15-15.
Rulong added that the Huskies’ ball control was not sharp from the beginning of the match and did not improve as the match went on
Cardinal responded with a 5-3 run to seize a 20-17 advantage but the Fighting Irish used a 5-0 run to take a 22-20 lead and fended off the Huskies 25-23 to complete the sweep.
Chaffee noted that he liked Cardinal’s chances of sending the match to five sets had the Huskies held on to their late lead in the third set.
Although it marks the first time this season that Cardinal has experienced consecutive losses, Chaffee does not believe that the team’s confidence has wavered.
With only one Northeastern Athletic Conference Stars Division match remaining on the schedule, if the Huskies are victorious in their season finale against Bristol, they will clinch at share of the NAC Stars Division banner, as rival Grand Valley would be co-champions since it handed Cardinal its’ first league loss since joining the conference last year.
“When we lost to Grand Valley early, our margin for error was zero, we knew we had to run the table the rest of the way,” said Chaffee. “We had a lot of kids that would start for almost every other team in the NAC, so I wanted to make sure everyone started at least one match.”
The Huskies recognized Chaffee for reaching his 600th coaching victory when it defeated Cardinal on October 5, as the longtime coach joined an exclusive club of a high school volleyball coach.
Chaffee’s 600 victories have come with four programs, Windham, Lordstown, Newbury and now Cardinal.
“If somebody had told me in 1982 that I was going to win 600 games, I would have laughed hard,” he said. “I have been blessed. I have been blessed with great kids and blessed that every school that I have gone to has tremendous support for what we wanted to do. I have been very lucky to have kids who play hard and love the game.”
Following the Huskies’ regular season finale on the road against Bristol on Monday evening, Cardinal will begin postseason play by hosting Bloomfield in the OHSAA Division VII Northeast 1 sectional final on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
