STRONGSVILLE — Wellsville volleyball seniors knew the Strongsville High School gym well having been to it five times previously.

The Tiger group hoped that the sixth time would mean the Tigers would get their elusive berth in the state volleyball tournament, but Norwalk St. Paul played a complete team game to defeat the Tigers 25-14, 25-17, 25-23 on Saturday in a Div. VII regional final.

“It’s frustrating because we always get stuck in the same spot every time,” Wellsville senior Bella Poppelriter said.

Wellsville ended its campaign at 21-6, while the Flyers moved to 19-7 and will take on Tiffin Calvert in the state semifinal at noon on Thursday at Wright State University’s Nutter Center.

Like Wellsville who finished second in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference, the Flyers finished second in the Firelands Conference. Unlike Wellsville, the St. Paul program had previously been to the state tournament six times and won it twice.

St. Paul’s last glory days, though, were a 2009 state-runner up in Div. IV. The thorn in the Flyers’ side had been Firelands Conference champs Monroeville who also had eliminated Wellsville in the Div. IV regional finals in 2021 and 22. Monroeville is now in Div. VI due to the expansion of divisions by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

“We’re clicking at the right time,” St. Paul coach Angie Kalizewski said. “I’m going to stick our division and to what we’re capable of doing and not worry about the others because that’s the way it all worked out.”

The Flyers, who have just one senior, kept the Tigers off guard with good service and cohesive defense. In the first set, Wellsville was tied at 5 before 7-0 scoring run tipped the momentum to the Flyers. With the score tied at 5 in the second game, the Flyers scored 16 straight points to zap nearly all of Wellsville’s energy.

“They’re a good team and we just we’re playing like we do here,” Wellsville coach Sherrie Allen said. “It’s like Groundhog Day.”

“I don’t think we played the way we knew how to play and we gave up,” Poppelriter said.

Presley Stokes, who was the district player of the year, showed why she is headed to Youngstown State in the final game. She had six kills on the first seven points of the match to give the Tigers a 7-1 lead. St. Paul eventually tied the game at 11 before a furious back-and-forth of entertaining volleyball closed out the match.

“I thought we had that game, but I think the pressure got to us,” Poppelriter said.

Stokes led the attack with 17 kills, seven assists, 12 digs, a block and an ace. Poppelriter had 10 kills, 16 assists, 12 digs, a block and one ace. Senior Myleigh Jackson had 12 digs and an assist. Senior Gracie Dowling had a block, while senior Olivia Edison had two digs. Aleena Owens had eight digs, while Maddie Drysdale had two kills and two blocks. Kaylee Kazee had three digs and Kenzie Bosco had three digs.

Stokes wrapped up her career going 93-15, while winning 290 of 363 sets played. Her career totals are 1,944 kills, 335 aces, 191 blocks, 1,215 digs and 718 assists.

“She’s my best friend and I loved to play with her over the years,” Poppelriter said. “I wish we had more time to play together.”

Allen, Stokes’ mother, said the end was bittersweet as she knew Stokes accomplished a lot but didn’t get the ultimate goal of state.

“She has more heart than a lot of teams combined,” Allen said. “She tried her best but it just didn’t work out. But she going on to play Div. I volleyball, so she still has more volleyball to play.”

Game notes

• Wellsville won Div. IV regional semifinals at the Strongsville gym in 2021 and 2022. The Tigers did not qualify for the regional in 2023.