Red Devil junior volleyball girls prevail in five sets over determined Warriors

St. Mary’s Warrior Mikayla Sevewright stretches to pass up a WCI shot. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Woodstock CI Red Devils volleyball coach Jeff Melanson does not love calling time-outs, preferring to let his players battle through challenges.

“Desperate times, desperate measures,” he managed to smile after calling a potentially unprecedented four through a hard-fought 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-4 Thames Valley Regional Athletics Southeast junior girls volleyball win over Woodstock St. Mary’s Warriors on Jan. 13. “Couple of sets, two per set - that’s enough to stress me out.”

The match proved stressful for both coaches, unfolding as a seesaw battle in which the pivotal third and fourth sets were decided by a total of four points.

Having split the first two, Melanson called his second time out of the third with St. Mary’s leading 22-20. The momentum-breaking tactic worked, the Red Devils tying the game at 22 and again at 23 as the Warriors surrendered a 23-22 advantage on an errant serve. In a quick, almost anti-climactic finish after a huge buildup, WCI locked up a 25-23 win on a Berlyn Ingram ace and a Warriors kill attempt which sailed out of bounds.

St. Mary’s rebounded in the fourth set, taking an early 5-0 lead, translating it into a 9-3 advantage that caused Melanson to signal for time out number three. The Red Devils responded, an Ingram centre rejection kicking off a corresponding 9-3 run, squaring accounts at 12. The game was still tied at 17, with St. Mary’s middle Jewel Mensah instigating Melanson’s second time out of the set with a service ace, giving her team a 20-18 advantage.

The timeout stalled the Warriors drive but would not deny it as St. Mary’s locked up a 25-23 victory. Emma Bertoia pounded two service winners for a 24-22 lead, and following a WCI tip which found a hole in the defence, an errant Red Devils kill attempt sealed the two-point deal.

The Warriors had played the Red Devils three times heading into the match, said coach Ethan Teague, winning one of the three.

“They have been our strongest competition and we’ve been working hard to make sure that we challenge them on the court.”

Teague was pleased to see his Warriors match the Red Devils on-court energy throughout a very close and competitive match.

“I couldn’t be happier with the team and I look forward to maintaining that energy as we head into the playoffs.”

In the fifth and deciding set, WCI’s comparative experience over a young Grade 9-heavy St. Mary’s squad highly competitive this year with a bright future, may have shown through. After a close opening, the set got away on a Warriors unit which was not as consistent on service reception and first pass as it had been through the first four.

WCI took a 4-3 lead on a point set up by a one-armed dig by Red Devils captain Hope McMichael, upping the gap to two on an errant Warriors set. A lengthy first pass too close to the net led to an Ingram rejection and a 6-3 lead. The Warriors’ Abby Dixon made a great defensive dig on the next play, but the rally continued, closing with a WCI kill and 7-3 lead upped to 8-3 on another Ingram denial at the net.

The teams’ changing sides at eight provided a natural momentum break for the Warriors. St. Mary’s Emma Bishop-Davis, returning to action after injuring her right arm crashing into the referee’s stand while chasing a loose ball, took advantage with a weak-side kill that broke off the Red Devils run.

“It hurt so bad!” said Bishop-Davis, referring to her arm, not the game itself. While preferring a different outcome, she called the match the most competitive she had ever played, an enjoyable building block in the season.

“This was such a good game; whether we won or lost, we still improved.”

WCI would regain its momentum, reeling off seven consecutive points, including a Claire Gyimesi-directed set, Bella Melanson tip, two Alison Van Der Wyngaard service winners, and an Ingram middle rejection and game-closing centre kill.

“I was scared,” admitted the WCI middle hitter, agreeing a tough game against a quality opponent is better than a blowout, but does come with its share of uncertainty. “This was definitely a challenge, but I’m glad our players worked through it,” Ingram continued. “We learned how to play together at the end and didn’t give up.”

“They’re good,” credited Van Der Wyngaard. “You want to play good teams and make yourself better.

“It shows us what we need to do to win,” she added. “I know our team has it in us, but we have to push. It’s not going to be given to us.”

A regular-season victory carrying playoff intensity gave the undefeated Red Devils the inside track to first place in the TVRA Southeast, a game up on Ingersoll DCI with one loss, and two on the Warriors. The regular season concludes with the Red Devils travelling to St. Thomas St. Joe’s on Feb. 3. Play-in matches are scheduled for Feb. 10, playoff quarterfinals that Thursday and semis and finals for Feb. 18.

“It’s all quality ball at this point, right?” coach Melanson concluded.