Monroeville headed back to state title match

VANDALIA — When done right, a dump on the second hit by a setter can be beautiful. Doing it without looking? Even more impressive. Monroeville sophomore Kaci Poths showed perfect timing with that kind of kill late in the second set, giving the Eagles a two-point lead. "Earlier, I told Kaci and Addison (Lyons) to not be afraid to dump the ball and I yelled at Kaci again when she came off," Monroeville coach Kendra Snook said. "She kind of snapped back at me 'OK.' All of a sudden, she dumped the ball two times and scored in big points. At least I knew she was listening to me." The No. 5-ranked Eagles won the set from there and didn't relent in the third set, defeating No. 4 Russia 26-24, 25-23, 25-20 in a Division VII state semifinal at Vandalia Butler High School on Thursday. The Eagles had to shake off their bus breaking down on the way to the arena and laugh it off. "They have that composure back at that line," Snook said. "This isn't the first big match they've played in. I was really proud of the fact that different kids were able to step up behind the line to do that. It wasn't just one person." Monroeville improved to 25-2 and will face No. 1 Tiffin Calvert (28-0) for the state championship at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University. The Eagles were state runners-up in 2022 when the current group of six seniors were freshmen. "Freshman year was a lot scarier than senior year," Monroeville senior Alexa Adams said. "I didn't know what it would be like. For my senior year, I knew what it was going to be like, so it was a lot easier to go through the game no matter the outcome." Monroeville was in a battle from the get-go. In the second set, the Raiders (21-7) went up 11-8 on a kill by Celeste Borchers only for the Eagles to rally. A serving error was the start of three straight mistakes by Russia to tie the set. Haylee Morman smacked a kill and Addison Homan served up an ace to give Monroeville a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Eagles led 20-18 later when Russia tied it on a Monroeville serving error and kill from Aryana Cordonnier. From there, Morman clocked another kill before Poths' dump made it 22-20. Poths added the next two points on aces to give Monroeville four set points. The Eagles needed it as a serving error, hitting error and block from Ruby Francis brought Russia within 24-23. Monroeville put the set away as Alexa Adams lined a kill, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead. "We had a game plan and we knew what we expected from Monroeville," Russia coach Aaron Watkins said. "It came down to pass and serve. We missed a few more serves than we would have liked to and maybe didn't have quite as strong of first contact as we would have liked to." Monroeville had to overcome deficits in Sets 1 and 3. In the opener, the Eagles opened a 16-13 lead after a kill and ace from Alexa Adams. Russia stormed back and first went up 19-16 following a kill by Ava Gibson. After Riley Platte cut the Monroeville deficit to two with a kill, the Raiders used a 5-3 run to extend the lead to 24-20. The Eagles weren't done fighting. Russia dumped a serve in the net before a hitting error. An ace from Homan forced a Raiders timeout. Ady Adams stuffed a block out of the break before a net violation on Russia brought up set point. Alexa and Ady Adams then combined on a block to win the set for Monroeville. "I've always heard in a moment like this, things are amplified," Watkins said. "One can turn into two and three really quick. I that's what happened to us. They're a great serving team and we knew that coming in." In Set 3, the Raiders came out with an energetic bolt trailing 2-0. Russia opened an early 6-2 lead on an ace by Violet Armstrong. The Raiders continued to play well and the advantage swelled to 14-6 following Izzi Chapman's ace. In the blink of an eye, things seemingly changed for Monroeville. The Eagles sprinted off the next seven points that included two aces from Maddy Miller and two kills by Alexa Adams. Monroeville tied the set at 15 on a kill from Ady Adams and went up 17-15 when Alexa Adams lined a kill. Russia rallied to even the set at 17, but the Eagles took the next six points. Poths had three aces in the run and a kill from Ady Adams made it 23-17. Ady Adams continued to finish the match strong as she bludgeoned a kill to extend the lead to 24-19 and bring up match point. After Russia ended off a chance, she put down her ninth and final kill to give Monroeville the win. "We do some drills in practice where we're down in big holes," Snook said. "We're constantly competing against each other in practice. I feel like we have quite a bit of depth on the court and kids that don't get the chance to play. "We do those drills where we're down 19-21. Being down and being in those holes isn't a new things for the kid." The Eagles finished the match with 16 aces, but eight of them came in the final set. "I said before the match we had to win the serve and serve receive game and that's what we won," Snook said. "They won the blocking game. They blocked a lot of balls, but we won the serve and serve receive game and that's where it starts." Alexa Adams and Madison Reiber each crossed the 1,000 career kills mark in the match. Each now sit with 1,003 career kills before their final high school match Saturday. Alexa Adams finished with 10 kills while Lyons had 15 assists. Poths tallied 10 assists and five aces. "(Poths) was a manager on one of our state teams," Snook said. "She's been down here, even though she hasn't had a chance to play. She's been in those big matches. Addison Lyons has been a great leader to her. They're extremely close. "Addison ran a 5-1 as a sophomore and has been running a 6-2 as a junior and senior and has been so unselfish." Homan led the defense with 16 digs while Miller picked up 13 digs. Both coaches believed Monroeville's experience helped the Eagles. It was Russia's first regional title in program history while Monroeville was making its sixth appearance at state since 2015. "We knew Russia was going to have a big crowd," Snook said. "They're a lot closer to (Vandalia), but I was extremely happy with how Monroeville traveled. We have a big home football game (Friday) and we still had a lot of students and fans here that were willing to drive that three-hour drive and go back tonight for hopefully a big football win. "I have no doubt that we'll have even more on Saturday coming."