St. Paul sweeps Danbury to advance

CLYDE — St. Paul played with pure focus Monday night. With aspirations of a second straight district title, the Flyers were in control from the start.St. Paul topped Danbury 25-15, 25-16, 25-18 in a Division VII district semifinal at Clyde High School. "We knew they were going to be scrappy," St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. "We knew their middle did a nice job and their setter does a nice job. You have to play consistent. You have to know the ball is coming back all the time and try to catch them off guard." The Flyers improved to 18-6 and will face Edgerton (14-10) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a district final at Archbold High School. St. Paul led just 11-10 in Set 1 when it really got to rolling. Kills from Shealyn Deeter and Ella Kalizewski was followed by an ace from Annie Friend. Later, the Flyers won three straight points, capped on a kill by Kegney Stoll for a 21-13 lead. Danbury (12-12) never got its footing in the set and a kill by Brooklyn Cassidy and block by Kalizewski put St. Paul up 1-0. The Flyers were almost as dominant in the second set. St. Paul scored the first four points of the set and went up 8-2 after consecutive aces by Friend. The Flyers added five straight points later for a 13-4 lead and surged ahead 16-5 following an ace by Lily Cuturic and four-hit error on Danbury. St. Paul kept firm control and went up 2-0 when the Lakers hit a kill long. The Flyers were slow out of the gate in Set 3. Danbury went up 5-1 on a kill from Avrey Bowling and pushed it to 7-2 on a four-hit error on St. Paul. Danbury led by as much as 9-3 before the Flyers got back into the set. St. Paul rode the right arm of Kegney Stoll as the senior put down four kills to help even the set at 11. "She's tough. She decided to kick it in and take over," coach Kalizewski said. "That's exactly what you want from a senior outside. That's what she does." Tied at 14 later, Deeter registered five kills as the Flyers surged ahead 20-15. Kills from Stoll and Cassidy gave St. Paul the win. "We wanted to get out of here and make sure we were pushing," coach Kalizewski said. "They did a really good job." Danbury came from a 2-0 deficit at St. Paul High School last week to defeat Cardinal Stritch. "We just watched them do this the other night, so we knew they weren't going anywhere," coach Kalizewski said. "We just had to play consistent and that's our goal all the time. The first five points or so, it's OK. We can battle, but then we have to go. We have to take off. We did a good job of that." Lauren Bergman had 31 digs for the Lakers while Cali Wunder tallied 19 assists. Bowling lined nine kills for Danbury, who graduate just one senior in Zoe Uhnick. Kalizewski (13 digs) and Deeter each finished with 10 kills while Cassidy (12 digs) had eight kills. Cuturic led the defense with 18 digs Friend added 35 assists and 10 digs. "We've watched a little bit of Edgerton and I'll go home and watch some more tonight," coach Kalizewski said. "They had their match tonight on there and we'll watch that one. I think they've got a couple middles that are decent and a couple big swingers on the outside. I think their size is OK. It's probably about what we see consistently."