Local Sports

Clippers net share of fourth straight EOAC title

COLUMBIANA -- The Columbiana volleyball team knew coming into Tuesday’s game with East Palestine that the Bulldogs had an outside shot at having a say in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference title race.

The Clippers closed that door quick with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-14 win to secure a share of its fourth consecutive league championship. The Clippers ended the EOAC portion of the schedule at 13-1 with the only loss being to United last Thursday in five sets, a defeat that was the Clippers first in 38 tries in the EOAC. The Golden Eagles, who are 12-1 in the league, have a chance to clinch their share of the title Oct. 14 at East Palestine.

“I think it’s great,” Columbiana junior setter Eva Waller said. “I think everyone worked well together all season. We’re all friends outside of volleyball, so I think that helps.”

Waller, who has more than 1,000 assists in her career and set a single-match record for assists in a match with 57 against United, again was sharp against the Bulldogs as she produced 34 assists with two aces and two digs, but she admitted it was still bittersweet to potentially have to split the EOAC title.

“(United) played really well,” Waller said. “I think we played well (against United) too, but you win some, you lose some.”

The Clippers boast an overall record of 16-1 and have only lost five sets all season -- all of them to United.

“Things didn’t really go our way at United,” Columbiana coach Jennifer Martin said. “(United) played lights out down there, but we were looking forward to this tonight. We have a really busy week, so we didn’t want to put too much pressure on this game. We knew this was a really important.”

East Palestine (14-6, 8-3 EOAC) seemed ready to play early in the match, but Columbiana turned it on late in the first game and the rest was never in doubt.

“Columbiana has a way of making you look bad,” East Palestine coach John Bistarkey said. “I thought the first set we were competitive. We could have been more aggressive at the next in the second and third sets. Give them credit, they hit the ball where we weren’t.”

For Columbiana, Keagan Pruitt had seven kills, seven points and 11 digs. Addisyn Dangler was aggressive at the net with 15 kills, while Landry Smith backed her up with 14 kills, four aces and nine points. Ava Marks had four kills, six points and seven digs. Lily Jackson had nine digs.

For the Bulldogs, Destiney Burtyk had eight kills and 13 digs. Kennedy Andre added 18 assists, four kills and three digs. Marley Blythe chipped in seven kills and 15 digs. Cadence Vargo had seven digs.

Both teams will look to the tournament as draws will be held on Sunday. Columbiana should garner a high seed in Div. V, while the Bulldogs will also be in a good position in Div. VII.

“I don’t know where we will be because there are so many teams I don’t know in the district,” Martin said. “We do know South Range, Crestview and Lakeview, but a lot of the other teams we are just not familiar with.”

“I was looking a some of the records today,” Bistarkey said. “Hopefully the other coaches dig in and look at who we play. Four of the losses we had coming into tonight were from teams that were 58-8. Three of our losses were too Div. V schools. We were also 5-0 against Div. VII teams.”

MATCH NOTES

• Tuesday was Team Up Against Cancer night. Both teams along with the Columbiana Area Soccer Association and the Columbiana boys and girls soccer teams teamed up to raise money for the Winnie’s Warriors organization which is named after the daughter of former Columbiana soccer coach Chad Vollnogle who has been successfully treated for cancer.

Winnie’s Warriors was setup to help area families going through pediatric cancer treatment. Tuesday’s fundraiser was for the family of Isaiah Sutton. Isaiah is undergoing treatment for pediatric cancer and is set to have surgery today.

• East Palestine’s volleyball team didn’t go home empty handed. Emma Gingher’s name was pulled twice during the basket raffle. She won a $50 gift card and a surprise basket.

• Columbiana won the jayvee portion, 25-21, 25-10. For the Clippers Sydney Schorejs had six kills. Annabelle Church had two kills, four aces, eight assists, seven points and 10 digs. Riley Fisk had five kills and nine points. Briley Schmidt had nine assists and four digs. East Palestine’s Liv Valingo had five kills and four digs. Layla had seven assists.

• Columbiana will be at West Branch today. East Palestine hosts Springfield Thursday.