LCC to play for district title

LIMA - Lima Central Catholic volleyball coach Dave Franklin could only smile and shake his head. The script his Thunderbirds normally follow was flipped on its ear Tuesday in a district semifinal match.

Except for one thing, they still won.

The T-Birds stayed alive in defense of their Division III state title with a 3-1 triumph over Columbus Grove at Lima Senior. LCC faces Tontogany Otsego in a district final at Perrysburg at 3 p.m. Saturday.

"That was a new concept for us," LCC coach Dave Franklin said. "We just came out solid in all four games to start; we just didn't finish the first couple as strong as we normally do."

Normally slow starters, the T-Birds raced to commanding leads in each of the four games. Even though Grove rallies in the first three matches made matters interesting, playing from behind took its toll on the Bulldogs.

"I've said all year, and I guess my whole career, volleyball is a game of momentum, and you can get down quick," Grove coach Jody Benda said. "When you get down, it physically and mentally takes a lot out of you because it puts a lot of pressure that shouldn't be there, trying to dig out of a hole all of the time."

In the first game, LCC opened a 14-6 lead before Grove rallied to a 19-16 lead behind the serving of Erica Glass and Morgan Kohls. LCC middle hitter Danielle Taflinger stopped the bleeding with an attack for a point, and the T-Birds closed out the game with a 25-23 win.

The same scenario played out in the second, with LCC gaining a 16-6 lead, and Grove battling to within 18-16. A pair of kills from Rachel Illig from the left started the LCC engine again, giving her squad enough juice to close out a 25-19 win.

"We wanted to not give them any confidence along the way," LCC senior JoJo Krieg said. "We wanted to make sure, from the very beginning, we let them know who's the better team."

Yet again in the third, LCC took control early while Grove appeared to fall apart as the T-Birds built a 19-11 lead.

Slowly, Grove worked its way back into the game. Jena Diller's string of serves brought Grove from down 22-16 to within 22-21. Back and forth went the next wave of points, before a pair of LCC errors gave Grove a 29-27 win.

"I'm going to take the blame for why we couldn't close it out in game three. We focused on finishing. You can't focus on finishing," Franklin said. "I realized I told them to focus on the wrong thing. The way the brain works, you've got to give them something to focus on. So, game four we focused on responsibilities."

The T-Birds quickly put the loss behind them, engineering a 13-3 lead that grew to 24-9. Grove put a few late points on the board, but LCC closed out the match with a 25-14 win in the fourth.

"Our saying has always been, play the next point. Even if you get on a run of 10 bad points, you still have the next one to play," Krieg said. "When you drop a game, you can't look back on it. You have to go play the next game."

Taflinger had 11 kills and two blocks for LCC, while Illig added another 11 kills and Abbie Mooney had 12 digs. Alexis Diglio had 37 assists.

The service game of the T-Birds, and the service errors on Grove, played a large role in the match. Along with 17 kills, Krieg had eight aces and Taylor White had five aces and 10 digs.

"Taylor White is the unheralded hero of this team," Franklin said. "She plays amazing defense. She's lightening quick. ... You start to notice her a little bit when she shows off the athletic ability she has."

Glass had 27 assists for Grove. Kohls had a major match all around, with 11 kills, six aces and 18 digs.