Rams best Jays to clinch MVAC Scarlet
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WEATHERSFIELD -- Jackson-Milton tried its hardest to spoil an important night for the Mineral Ridge volleyball team, but the Blue Jays could not upset the rolling Rams, who remained perfect in league play.
The Rams won their 15th straight match and clinched the outright Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) Scarlet Tier title on Tuesday with a 3-0 victory.
"I’m just excited that we came away with a victory against a really good team," Mineral Ridge head coach Ron Lesko said. "I loved the way that my kids responded in that second set. Being down late in the set, we managed to come back, tie it up, take the lead and win the set. Going into the tournament like this and being able to accomplish something like that kind of builds confidence, which is something you need to have when you’re going into the tournament."
The Rams established an early lead in the first set of Tuesday's match, jumping out ahead 9-4 before Jackson-Milton, buoyed by sophomore middle hitter Sarah Murphy at the net, battled back to within two points more than halfway through the set. Ridge, though, again found its groove and earned six points in a row, forcing the Jays to burn both timeouts.
The second break in the action proved effective, with J-M winning four of the following six points, but the Rams' comfortable lead cushioned the rally, and they soon finished out the set with a 25-18 win.
After taking a 5-2 lead, Ridge struggled to string points together again in the second set.
The Blue Jays benefited from multiple service errors and kept the Rams off-balanced as the score remained closely contested. J-M, which fought from behind for most of the set, even took a slim lead three-fourths of the way through, although the advantage would be short-lived.
Following a three-point streak to put the Jays up 21-19, Lesko used a timeout, which seemed to do the trick for Mineral Ridge.
The Rams won four of the next five points to take a 23-22 lead and force a timeout from J-M. After the second pause, Ridge closed out the set with a 25-23 win to take a commanding, 2-0 lead in the match.
"They're a quality team," Lesko said of the Blue Jays. "They got good height, and they’re a well-rounded team. Their setters are good. They’re big, and they get a lot of touches on blocks. It’s not really any one thing in particular, I feel. I think it’s just a game of, can you dig a ball, transition into some offense and score your points."
Potentially assured by the second-set victory, Ridge shot out to a 16-7 lead in the third set before the J-M could effectively respond. The Rams, though, proved far too strong for the young Jays, who tried to come back from a 20-11 deficit. After a string of J-M points, Ridge earned the 25-17 set win to clinch the victory.
"I feel like they got a quick start each of the first and third game," Blue Jays head coach Sue Prozy said. "We were a little slow to get into it. And then that first set, we kind of got up there around the 14 mark and kind of stayed there for a little bit, went back and forth. ... But we’re still pretty young. A lot of our bigger hitters are sophomores, so we got a lot of growing to do."
Jackson-Milton (12-8, 10-5 MVAC Scarlet) had won seven of its last nine matches entering Tuesday. The Blue Jays are at Newton Falls tonight before finishing up league play vs. Western Reserve next Monday. They then open the postseason against Smithville next Thursday.
"[We need to improve] our passing and some defense," Prozy said. "We got to work on making sure we close those blocks. When we close the blocks, and we’re taking away lines, we were able to cover the floor. And just getting us a little bit more mobile on defense."
With the win, Mineral Ridge is 20-1 on the season, 15-0 in MVAC Scarlet play and now the outright league champion. The Rams had already secured at least a share of the MVAC Scarlet championship regardless of how they fared in their final two matches, but they can now finish no worse than 15-1, while second-place Campbell can finish no better than 14-2.
"It’s important to my kids," Lesko said. "Getting a share of it is not the same as having the whole thing to yourself. And they knew that going in. And maybe at times they were playing a little tight, a little anxious when they were playing the ball. But again, they responded, and it means the world to them, it means the world to the program. Anybody that’s local and you win your conference, that’s the number-one goal of the season."
Despite a perfect 16-0 record at stake against Western Reserve in his team's final conference match on Thursday, Lesko said he is not putting too much pressure on the Rams before they play league rival Waterloo for the third time this season to open the playoffs.
"Now that they have [the league title], I think they’ll just play loose. I think they’re a little bit more comfortable now," Lesko said. "I might end up doing a couple things different now that I know that we’ve clinched it. There’s some kids who are seniors -- it's going to be our senior night -- I’m probably going to end up having them play some positions."