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Rebels get a glimpse of the best

Morning Journal/Patti Schaeffer Crestview’s Kasey Landsberger bumps the ball against Gilmour Academy on Thursday in a Div. III regional semifinal. Also shown are MacKenzie Daub (15) and Natasha Salmen.

BARBERTON–Even with its best player sidelined for the rest of the postseason, the top-ranked Gates Mills Gilmour Academy volleyball team showed Crestview why it is still one of the top contenders for the Division III state championship.

With junior middle hitter-and Northwestern recruit-Ella Grbac on the bench with a torn ACL, the Lancers were never threatened on the way to a 25-6, 25-17, 25-12 defeat of the Rebels in a Division III regional semifinal Thursday at Barberton High School.

The Rebels, who rolled over most local competition, finish out a year to remember with a record of 24-3. The Lancers, who are the defending Div. III state champions, improve to 22-4 and advance to the regional final where they will face Orrville at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barberton High School.

“On a team like that, even though one player is down, they have another kid that can step right into that position,” Crestview coach Alisha Auer said. “They are a very loaded team. Even with her (Grbac) out, I’d be surprised if anybody beat them the rest of the way.”

Grbac was injured in the second game of Saturday’s district final win over Rocky River Lutheran West, but the Lancers still had an abundance of size and skill up front.

Gilmour set the tone right off the bat by jumping to a 15-3 lead in the first game. Megan Forsythe led the way with 15 kills and 15 digs. Setter Megan Brzozowski added 28 assists, four aces, four kills and five digs. Chase Filicko had six kills and five digs. Kenzie O’Conner had 15 digs.

“Their hitting was so powerful,” Crestview senior Makenna Perorazio said. “It was hard to get a block up. We’ve played teams with one powerful hitter, but they had a whole set of good hitters.”

“Our approach doesn’t change in any way with Ella out,” Gilmour coach Danny Coughlin said. “I just went to the bench and grabbed one of my backups. We have three good ones on the bench and they did it by committee today.”

The Rebels stayed close for the first part of the second game and only trailed 14-13 before a 9-0 Gilmour run widened the gap to 22-13.

“They missed some key serves in the second game and we were able to shorten their runs and get a little more aggressive on hitting,” Auer said.

The third game was never close, as Gilmour rattled off the first five points and never looked back.

MacKenzie Daub and Taylor Oliver each record six kills for the Rebels, with Oliver notching two blocks. Natasha Salmen added 26 digs, while Haley Eskra had 12 assists and eight digs.

“I was proud of the way we played,” Perorazio said. “We wanted to come out and show people what we’ve been working on. We didn’t get the win we wanted, but they are a very good team. Good luck to them the rest of the way.”

With the season now in the rearview mirror, the Rebels have plenty of accomplishments to look back on with pride.

In addition to the school’s first district title since 2006, the Rebels had a 22-match winning streak (which was snapped Thursday) and won the outright Inter-Tri County League Red Division title in Crestview’s last season in the league.

“Our teamwork has improved so much since last season,” Perorazio said. “Last year there was a lot of butting-heads. This year we really jelled. We got better in all areas of the game.”

Thursday’s match was the last for Perorazio as well as seniors Taylor Oliver, Kasey Landsberger, Emily Ferris and Whitney Cope. All season, Auer credited the group for showing leadership on and off the court and for establishing the positive atmosphere that allowed the Rebels to have success.

“They always kept the team together,” Auer said. “This was just such a fun group to have overall; practices were fun, games were fun. It was a great group of individuals.”

 

Match notes

¯Thursday was Crestview’s first loss since September 3 against Ravenna Southeast. The only other team to beat Crestview was Howland.

¯Grbac is the daughter of former NFL quarterback Elvis Grbac, who played for the 49ers, Chiefs and Ravens during a seven-year career.

¯Even without Grbac, who had 232 kills this season, Coughlin still believes the Lancers are deep enough to win their second straight state title.

“Absolutely we can still go all the way,” Coughlin said. “Any team that has tough serving, plays defense and still has five kids that can score points like we do is going to be a tough team to play against. All these kids have been playing deep into the tournament, so nerves won’t be an issue.”

¯At the same time Thursday’s match was going on, Coughlin’s niece Kayla was playing for Brunswick in a Division I regional semifinal against Toledo Notre Dame Academy.

“My brother was sending me texts all night,” Coughlin said.

¯Orrville defeated Garrettsville Garfield 25-15, 25-19, 18-25, 24-26, 15-8 in the first match at Barberton Thursday.

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