The Berkshire Badgers’ girls’ volleyball team withstood a furious comeback by Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division foe Rootstown, ultimately claiming a 25-19, 25-17, 25-27, 15-25, 15-13 victory in five sets to close out the regular season last Thursday evening in Burton
“We had a disappointing loss to Kirtland last week so we had to remind ourselves that we did still have two league games to win and you always want to win those and I reminded them that anything we did this week was going to make us better for the postseason,” said Coach Joan Prots.
The Badgers (16-6, 9-3) ended their regular season with a dramatic victory and will shift their attention to the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V playoffs. If the Badgers defeat East Technical in the OHSAA Division V Northeast 2 sectional championship on Thursday evening, they will host either Keystone or Orville in the district semifinal on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
“I know at the beginning of the year a lot of people did not expect much of us based on the players that graduated last year so that was one of this group’s emphasis, to make sure that people understood this group was still a good competitive group and they have worked hard all year to do that,” noted the 22nd-year coach.
On Thursday, Berkshire’s 2-0 set advantage evaporated after the Rovers won the following two sets, evening up the score at 2-2, forcing a decisive fifth set.
According to Prots, the Badgers realized that they had not played well enough in the last two sets to close out the match but that needed to change in order to win the fifth set.
Berkshire seized a commanding 9-1 lead at the beginning of the fifth set, but the Rovers countered by going on a 10-2 run, tying the score at 11-11.
The Badgers avoided a near-loss, outscoring Rootstown 4-2 to clinch the fifth set, securing the victory in their season finale.
“We had a couple of plays that we usually are successful on that did not work the way we wanted them to and they had a decent server in that stretch that kept us out of our system a lot during that stretch, but again we were able to make the plays when we needed to and come out on top,” said Prots.
It marked the end of a back-and-forth affair, as the teams traded momentum in the first four sets.
Berkshire took a 2-0 advantage by winning the first two sets with late runs and built a comfortable lead.
In the third set, Rootstown made a big run at the beginning, going ahead 9-3.
The Badgers responded swiftly, remaining in striking distance throughout the set and held a 24-23 lead near the end of the set, just one point away from sealing a sweep but Rootstown rallied, winning the set 27-25.
“They made a couple of plays at the end and kept us out of system, so we were not always able to get our strongest attack when we needed it,” Prots added. “It was just back-and-forth there in the last couple of points, and they were the first ones to win two in a row.”
In the fourth set, Prot said the Rovers enjoyed another quick start, this time building a 9-1 advantage at the start and maintained a firm lead throughout the set, winning 25-15, sending the match into a final fifth set.
Prots acknowledged that Berkshire committed several unforced errors, swinging the momentum in the Rovers’ favor, which forced the match into a fifth set after what appeared to be the makings of a comfortable victory.
With the Badgers having finished the regular season, Prots lauded the team for its resiliency, especially in a season that needed new players to take on more responsibility after the team graduated six seniors, including three seniors who were four-year starters for the program.
She added it was the first time since the graduated seniors were freshmen that so many new roles needed to be filled, but Berkshire still had enough returning experience to prove that it could still play at a high level, as junior middle blocker Stella Bateman, junior libero Maddie Bower, junior outside hitter Moira Wonders and junior right side hitter Bailey Hunter kept the Badgers’ offense humming,
“They just were not the ones that had to be the scorers last year so part of the adjustment at the beginning of the year was that those role players from last year had to step up and become the leaders and the people that we had to go to when you needed points,” she said.
