There is no better way to end the regular season than by defeating a neighborhood rival. The Crestwood Red Devils volleyball team did just that when they swept Portage County foe the Garfield G-Men 25-16, 25-19, 25-10 in their regular season finale last Saturday afternoon in Mantua.
“It was very exciting,” said Red Devils’ Coach Wanda Hoffman. “It was nice. It was Volley for the Cure and it is always nice playing Garfield. We used to be in a league together. I know they were a little bit disappointed in their performance but they were very scrappy and we could not celebrate until the whistle was blown because they were saving things that were amazing. Our girls just played very steady.”
The two teams played each other frequently when they belonged to the Portage Trail Conference but since the Red Devils (15-6, 6-4) moved to the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division and Garfield switched to the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Division in 2020, they have only seen each other once in the regular season the past three years.
“A couple of years ago we had a big game against them,” said junior outside hitter/middle blocker Maddie Dustman. “Ever since then it has been good to beat them,”
It was a match dictated by a game of runs and in each set the Red Devils started fast. In the first set they were sparked by a 6-0 surge fueled by the service game of junior outside hitter Kayleigh Helm.
The G-Men (15-7, 9-5) responded with an 8-3 rally, sparked by the offense of senior outside hitter Montana McGranahan, who recorded four kills to trim Crestwood’s lead to 9-8 but the Red Devils used another run, this time an 11-4 spurt, to take a commanding 20-12 lead en route to winning the first set.
Crestwood’s momentum was sparked with pinpoint accuracy on kills and passes while the G-Men struggled to hit their marks.
“We were probably the most off in the game compared to the rest of the season,” acknowledged Garfield Coach Ali Korosec. “Our passing was not there and we made a lot more errors than they did.”
The Red Devils enjoyed another fast start in the second set, surging ahead 10-6 and fended off another Garfield rally when the G-Men cut the lead to 13-11.
Every time Crestwood had a big scoring spree, the G-Men countered with a run of their own to stay close.
“They just did not quit,” said the Red Devils’ 31st-year coach. “They had some nice serves and we had a little bit of trouble receiving it and they had a couple of really nice hitters and we just got lucky. Hannah Ward got a lot of blocks, Abby Guyette got a lot of blocks and Maddie got some blocks. They all just did great protecting that net up there on some hard spikes.”
The Red Devils’ ball control stayed sharp and they used a 9-4 run to put away Garfield in the second set, winning it by a 25-19 margin.
In a match dictated by runs, Crestwood always had the first scoring surge and those were the ones that mattered the most.
“I think it really motivated us,” said the 5-foot-9 Dustman. “When we missed one serve it really brought us down but when we got the next run it just really boosted us to keep going.”
Everything came together for the Red Devilsin the third set when they raced out to a 7-2 lead paced by a pair of aces by junior setter/middle blocker Abby Guyette and two kills by Dustman.
The G-Men trimmed Crestwood’s lead to 9-5 but the Red Devils erupted for an 11-0 run, taking a 20-5 lead and eventually sealed the victory, winning the third set 25-10.
“They did a great job,” said Hoffman. “Our girls were really seeing the floor well and served the ball into great spots. They have been working hard. We have two passers back there that have been steady all year long and it was very nice. Everyone can step in and help out.”
If the Red Devils defeat Salem in the Division II Northeast 1 Streetsboro sectional semifinal on Wednesday, they will take on Portage County foe Aurora in the sectional championship at Girard High School in Youngstown on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
Garfield will vie for a berth in the Division III Northeast 1 Medina sectional championship when they play Portage County rival Rootstown on Tuesday to face either LaBrae or Dalton in the following round at LaBrae High School on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.
