St. Paul falls in four to bigger Columbian

TIFFIN — The lesson can be tough to learn. After dropping Set 1, it looked like St. Paul was going to knot the match by taking Set 2. The Lady Flyers faltered and found themselves down 2-0 in Tuesday's non-league match at Tiffin Columbian. St. Paul rallied with a win in Set 3, but ultimately the bigger Tornadoes topped the Flyers, 25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-19. "We talked about it a little bit in the locker room," St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. "You have to know when it's important to score points and when you make sure you stay alive. When you have big hitters on the other side, you score points when she's not in the front row." St. Paul (5-2) watched a 15-8 lead evaporate in Set 2. The Tornadoes (6-1) won five straight points to force a Flyers timeout. Out of the break, Ella Kalizewski smacked one of her team-high eight kills, but it was the last point St. Paul won in the set. Lexi Beaston took serve for Columbian and never gave it back. The Tornadoes were also guided by 6-foot-1, Wake Forest commit Kaela Jenkins, who got hot. The junior smacked four kills and three blocks in a string of eight points. Another timeout by St. Paul did nothing to slow down Columbian. Abby Lewis tallied a kill and Beaston served up an ace to steal back the set. "Overall, you're coming in to face a good team," Kalizewski said about facing the Division II Tornadoes, who shared the SBC Lake title with Norwalk last season. "I'm very pleased with what we did. That will make us better. I'm glad we got to point some things out that we need to work on." The Flyers responded in Set 3. The Tornadoes opened with the first three points and led 4-1, but St. Paul got rolling. A block by Annie Friend and kills from Kalizewski and Friend got the Flyers going. St. Paul was able to go up 11-6 following a kill by Kegney Stoll. The Flyers maintained at least a two-point lead the rest of the way. Columbian got as close as 19-17 following an Ella Kerschner ace, but St. Paul slammed the door shut. Kills by Brooklyn Cassidy and Kalizewski gave the Flyers a slew of set points. Aubrie Bogard then hit a kill to bring St. Paul within 2-1. For as much momentum as the Flyers gained with winning Set 3, Columbian took a lot of it away early in Set 4. The Tornadoes raced out to a 6-0 lead — including three kills by Jenkins. The margin reached 10-2 after a hitting error by St. Paul. The Flyers made a run at the deficit late in the set, slicing within 18-16 following four straight points. But that was the closest St. Paul got. The deficit was still two at 21-19, but Columbian reeled off the final four points, capped on kills by Jenkins and Lewis to finish the win. "You can't let that many go in the beginning," Kalizewski said. "That's hard to fight back from." Jenkins finished with 24 kills and nine blocks. She had 15 kills through two sets, but was limited to just three in Set 3. She finished strong with six kills in the final set including three of Columbian's final five points. "You take a kid like that and you expect her to get her kills so you don't react to them," said Kalizewski of defending Jenkins. "We did a good job of that. You want to work hard and figure out a way to get around her." St. Paul nearly seized Set 1 after trailing most of the way. The Tornadoes were up 15-7 at one point, but the Flyers drew within 22-21 late in the set. Kerschner and Beaston tallied kills for Columbian and Jenkins' seventh kill of the first set gave the Tornadoes the early lead. "I felt like every single set we never gave up, no matter what was going on," Kalizewski said. "In the third set, we pushed all the way through, which was great. I felt like no matter what, all four sets we made a run and pushed back. That's hard to do mentally." Stoll finished with seven kills while Cassidy had five kills. Lily Cuturic led the defense with 33 digs, Kristin Matlack contributed 24 assists and 16 digs, and Bella Guerra added 14 digs. Kalizewski added 12 digs for St. Paul. The Lady Flyers host South Central on Thursday in a Firelands Conference match. "You can't get better if you don't take those challenges," Kalizewski said of playing up in competition. "It does come with losses, and that's OK. "We want a challenge. I'll take a couple losses from bigger schools with as much as we can learn from it."