Ottoville’s Kendall Schnipke spikes against Miller City’s Cloe Kuhlman during Monday’s Division VII District Semifinal at Liberty-Benton High School.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
BENTON RIDGE – The Ottoville and Miller City volleyball programs are very familiar with each other.
A couple weeks ago in a regular-season match, it took Ottoville five sets to defeat Miller City.
In Monday’s Division VII district semifinal at Liberty-Benton, No. 1 seed Ottoville squared off once again with No. 3 seed Miller City.
This match had very similar results.
Once again, Miller City gave Ottoville all it could handle before the Big Green managed to put the Wildcats away in four sets – 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22.
With the hard-fought victory, Ottoville (22-2) advanced to Wednesday’s district championship match against Leipsic. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Liberty-Benton. Miller City ended its season at 17-6.
In Monday’s other district semifinal match, Leipsic defeated Pandora-Gilboa in four sets – 25-18, 11-25, 25-18, 25-21.
“When you get to this point in our tournament, you know with the four teams coming in, that anyone can really come out of it. So, we knew that coming in,” Ottoville coach Alexis Lautzenheiser said. “It kind of put the pressure on us, and we were able to come out with the win. Our girls played with aggression. We were able to attack and hit the ball the way we like to, and we stayed in (the) system for the most part. So, kudos to them.”
Carly Thorbahn led Ottoville with 13 kills, two serving aces and 16 digs. Kendall Schnipke hammered 13 kills and had six digs. Addie Miller and Vanessa Hilvers each had seven kills for the Big Green.
For Miller City, Morgan Verhoff had 11 kills, while teammate Cloe Kuhlman had eight kills. Libby Erford recorded 23 digs for the Wildcats.
“We had some girls step up,” Lautzenheiser said. “We like to use all our options as much as we can and kind of keep the other team on their toes. I think that all of our girls, when they were put in that position, they delivered. At this point, if you’re not going to go all-out and try to go for every ball, then you might get beat. So, you have to think that every point is your last point.”
Leipsic 3, Pandora-Gilboa 1
In Monday’s second district semifinal at Liberty-Benton, No. 2 seed Leipsic defeated No. 4 seed Pandora-Gilboa in four sets – 25-18, 11-25, 25-18, 25-21.
With the win, Leipsic (23-1) will face Ottoville in Wednesday’s district championship match. P-G ended its season at 17-7.
After Leipsic won the first set 25-18, P-G bounced back and won the second set in convincing fashion, 25-11.
However, the Vikings responded with hard-fought wins in the next two sets and clinched the victory.
“If you could erase that second set and start over, that would have been good,” Leipsic coach Brent Newel said with a grin. “We just didn’t play our best in that second set. When you have 15 errors in one set against a really good team, the score kind of shows that.
“But I was super proud of the reset button that we got after that second set and came out after the third set having kind of a nice lead. I’m just super proud of their effort. They beat us pretty bad (in the second set). So, to come back from that, I was really proud of that effort.”
Danaysia Danzy led Leipsic with 21 kills, 16 digs and two blocks. Karmyn Brough recorded 33 assists and three aces. Jaelynn Siefer had 24 digs and four aces for the Vikings.
For P-G, Corrin Luginbill had 17 kills, while teammate Ava Huffman recorded 41 digs.
Match Summaries
Ottoville 3, Miller City 1
Kills: Ottoville – Carly Thorbahn 13; Miller City – Morgan Verhoff 11
Digs: Ottoville – Carly Thorbahn 16; Miller City – Libby Erford 23 digs
Aces: Ottoville – Addie Miller 2; Miller City – Gemma Otto 2
Leipsic 3, P-G 1
Kills: Leipsic – Danaysia Danzy 21; P-G: Corrin Luginbill 17
Digs: Leipsic – Jaelynn Siefer 24; P-G: Ava Huffman 41 digs
Aces: Leipsic – Jaelynn Siefer 4; P-G: Corrin Luginbill 1
