×

Potters have district title on mind

Above, East Liverpool’s volleyball team celebrates a win over Calymont in the Div. II district semifinal on Wednesday at Malvern High School. The Potters will play Indian Valley for the title at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Malvern High School. At right, Terran Stacey sets the ball. (Photos by Jimmy Joe Savage)

MALVERN — It was deja vu for the talent-laden East Liverpool High School girls volleyball team on Wednesday evening.

For the second year in a row, the second-seeded Potters met the Claymont Mustangs in a Division II district semifinal at Malvern High School.

And for the second consecutive year, it was the same result as the Potters ousted the fifth-seeded Mustangs27-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16 to advance to Saturday’s Division II district final.

“My whole team (contributed), every one of them,” said East Liverpool head coach Jonathan Stokes. “I’m just proud of all of them — every one of them.”

The Potters will play No. 1-seed Indian Valley for the district crown Saturday at 4 p.m at Malvern. Indian Valley ousted Carrollton in the other district semifinal Wednesday night. East Liverpool will be making a second consecutive appearance in the Div. II district title game.

Wednesday’s win over Claymont was important for another reason for the Potters (24-1) as it avenged their lone loss sustained in the regular season. The Mustangs defeated the Potters 3-1 back on September 6 in

Uhrichsville and Jonathan Stokes was hoping his team would get another chance to play Claymont.

“We were trying get our gel (in the early-season loss to Claymont), we were moving people around and hey, they (the Mustangs) are a great team,” said Stokes. “But when we lost to them, that was a good loss, because that loss built us.”

In the rematch Wednesday, the Potters were led by junior standout Skye Stokes who led the team with 27 kills and a block, 6-3 Emma Ludwig with 14 kills and two blocks, Terran Stacey finished with six kills, two aces and two blocks, Sharnae Wilson added four kills and two blocks, Naudia Williams had two kills and one ace, Addisyn Galeoti added an ace, Maddy Betteridge ended with a kill and an ace, Emily Recktenwald had a kill and Karly Golden finished with one ace.

“I’ve been playing volleyball probably since I was 9 (years old),” said Skye Stokes, who was all over the court while returning some rocket launches over the net against the Mustangs. “Our team was very together tonight, we were playing as one and I think that’s what led us to the win.”

Stokes said the favorite part of her game is serving.

“Serving is the one thing I work on the hardest,” said Stokes, who has mastered a jump power serve that can reach in the neighborhood of 60 miles per hour. “It’s kind of hard to time that up, and the lights get in your eyes. I just watched people (doing jump power serves over the years) and it’s how I learned it.”

Claymont was missing one of its top players for Wednesday’s rematch.

“We were missing our 6-1 middle (hitter Ryleigh Ronald out with an ankle injury),” said Claymont head coach Juli Grove. “It happened close to the end of the season, and that hurts.”

The Potters fell behind twice in the opening match by as much as 17-12, but led by Stokes, East Liverpool went on an 8-1 run to take a 20-18 advantage. Claymont came back to retake the lead at 25-24 but with the pressure mounting, the Potters scored the final two points to win 27-25.

It set the tone of what was to follow.

The Potters never trailed in the second set and won 25-20. Claymont took as much as a 23-15 lead over East Liverpool and held off a Potter charge to win the third set, 25-21.

But after falling behind 3-2 to open the fourth set, the Potters took the lead for good on a Ludwig spike, giving them a 4-3 advantage and they never looked back. East Liverpool took as much as three seven-point leads en route to a deciding 25-16 win while vaulting itself into the district final.

Jonathan Stokes expects a lot from his team and the Potters always deliver.

“We set a lot of high goals for this team, we had to step our game up because of what we were last year (a district finalist with 23 wins),” he explained. “We had some shoes to fill and I set the bar high for them every time, and I’m not easy on them. You can make a good play but I can see what you did wrong and I’m going to tell you what you did wrong.”

That philosophy has worked to perfection for the Potters who have enjoyed three 20-plus win seasons in a row under coach Stokes.

Claymont concludes a fine season at 19-6.

“This is a great group of girls, they play hard and they gave it their all,” said Grove.

Notes

¯ East Liverpool has only lost one set during its 2018 tournament run. The Potters opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Minerva and followed that up with a 3-0 sectional championship triumph over the Cambridge Bobcats and the 3-1 win over Claymont.

¯ Turning to Saturday’s district final against Indian Valley, Jonathan Stokes commented, “We have not seen them (Indian Valley) at all, but (taking care of our own business) that’s what we do.”

¯ Skye Stokes added, “We’re just trying to win this next game because last year that’s where we lost in a hard five-set game (to then district champion New Philadelphia).”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today