Avon wins third consecutive district title with sweep of Eastlake North

Some things never get old, like winning a district championship. Avon’s volleyball team won a Division II district title Wednesday with a relatively easy sweep of Eastlake North at Berea-Midpark High School, the Eagles’ third consecutive district crown. Avon, 23-1 and ranked third in the state, won by the scores of 25-11, 25-16, 25-8. Next on the schedule is a regional semifinal match October 30 at Streetsboro High School against Southwestern Conference foe Amherst, which defeated Walsh Jesuit in five sets in their district final. Avon posted two three-set sweeps over the Comets this season on its way to an undefeated SWC campaign. “It feels amazing,” said coach Kara Coffman of the district title. “We just reminded the seniors that they got the first-ever district championship at Avon, and now the second and third. That’s really cool for them.” Actually, Avon won a volleyball district title in 1990, but that’s before Coffman was born, so she can be forgiven. At any rate, it’s a three-peat for the Eagles, which is something special for the six seniors on the team. “Prior to my sophomore year, we hadn’t won a district title since (1990),” said middle hitter Bethany Sherwood. “Winning that first one really just showed everybody that Avon’s back and ready to compete. I’ve been playing with these girls since seventh, eighth grade, some even earlier. I really feel like that strengthens our connection not only as teammates, but as people in general. And that can really translate onto the court because we know each other in and out.” As is typically the case, the seniors led the way for Avon. Sherwood controlled the net with 10 kills and six blocks, including four solo blocks. Londyn Stone had a team-high 12 kills and also led the team with five of its 14 aces. Lily Hamilton added eight kills, eight assists and three aces. Hamilton made a huge early statement of what was to come, serving up an ace on the first point of the match. It helped the Eagles jump to leads of 9-3, 15-7 and 22-8 before taking the opener on a quick set kill by Hamilton. Sherwood had kills on three of Avon’s first four points as it became clear how the match would be going. “Our passes were really good today,” said Sherwood. “They were perfect to the setter. And when the sets are on, they can send more to me, which is awesome. But I think our passing was really good today, which definitely helped. I feel like not only me, but a lot of the girls performed extremely well, especially at the beginning of the first set. I feel like that really set the tone for the entire match because we started off strong.” The second set was more of the same, as Avon threatened to run away and hide, jumping to leads of 10-1, 14-3 and 17-8. However, the Eagles then hit a bit of a lull, as the Rangers cut the margin to six, 19-13. But Sherwood asserted herself once again, with a block kill and two outright kills to put the set away. “Sometimes it’s hard to stay focused,” said Sherwood, “especially if we’re making errors and we’re not really paying attention, not really trying to correct our errors. But as long as we keep our goal in mind and really focus on that goal, we can perform our best.” Such was the case in the third set, which saw Avon run off 13 consecutive points to turn a 1-1 tie into a 14-1 runaway. Stone had seven kills and two aces in the final set. She was the server when Avon scored the final six points of the match. It was the second consecutive easy victory for the Eagles, who opened the postseason on Monday with a 25-5, 25-9, 25-6 sweep of Warren Harding. “After our match on Monday, we started with a positive at practice about what we did well, said Coffman. “I really want them to enjoy the journey. This is a really cool journey that not everybody gets to go on. So, I just want them to have fun every step of the way.”