Eagles sweep Magnificat, look to get revenge in state final match

<a href="https://x.com/EaglesLifting/status/1987347749025497270?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Final play of the match</a>The first time a high school team reaches the state Final Four, everything is new, and it’s as much a celebration as anything else. But the second time, it’s entirely different. “This was a business trip,” said Avon volleyball coach Kara Coffman. “We came here to get the job done, and that’s exactly what we did.” The job for the Eagles was to get revenge on Magnificat, the only team to defeat Avon this season. The rematch took place Saturday in a Division II state semifinal at Wittenberg University, pitting the Blue Streaks, ranked second in the state coaches poll, against Avon, ranked No. 3. Magnificat defeated the Eagles in four sets in the final match of the regular season, but this time around it was entirely different, as Avon rolled to a three-set sweep, winning by the scores of 25-21, 25-23 and 28-26. Next up for the Eagles is a rematch with Whitehouse Anthony Wayne, which edged Avon in five sets in a state semifinal last year. The state final is slated to begin at 3 p.m. Sunday at Wright State University. More on Anthony Wayne later. For now, let’s get back to the revenge thing. “Revenge is real fun, and it’s best served cold,” said Londyn Stone, who led Avon with 17 kills. “This was definitely one of those games where we came into it and we were like, ‘This is our revenge game. We’re going to take it to them no matter what and we’re going to give 100 percent.’ We definitely pushed ourselves really far. It took everything out of us to be able to take them in three. And that’s something that we definitely will never forget—making the state championship match by sweeping Mags in three. I definitely won’t forget that for a long time.” Since the loss to Magnificat, the Eagles have worked a lot on ballhandling and blocking, and it showed in the rematch. Avon also appeared to be the more confident team. “I feel so proud of them,” said Coffman. “I absolutely knew that they could do this, and they just believed in themselves. We came up with a plan against this team, and then they went out and executed it. I’m just glad that they trusted me with the game plan, and then they followed through.” Playing with confidence is one thing, but sweeping Ohio’s No. 2 team in a state semifinal match? That seemed to be too much to believe. “After the last point,” said Lily Hamilton, “I was literally like, ‘What’s going on here? Is this real life? Did we actually just do that?’ It was insane. But I’m also not very surprised, because we worked so hard in practice these last five days. We really took each and every day as a day to get better and grow and improve on things that we didn’t do very well in the first match we played against them.” One of the areas that needed improvement was serve reception. The Eagles struggled to handle Magnificat’s serves in the regular season, which was a big reason why they dropped the match. The majority of the serve reception falls on the shoulders of libero Ally Brediger, and the sophomore met the challenge in the rematch. She had only three receiving errors in 32 attempts, and also led all players with 24 digs, as her defense frustrated the normally high-powered offense of the Blue Streaks. “I feel like this time we were definitely more ready and more prepared,” said Brediger. “We knew what their tendencies were, and we adjusted to it really well and fixed it. (Coach has) been working with me before games on warming up my platform (for serve reception). I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better, and I feel like we’ve really improved on it as a team. I feel like we’re just more confident in it, too.” The other area that needed improvement was blocking, which really is the biggest reason why Avon won the semifinal match. The Eagles had 18 block assists and four solo blocks, compared to six assists and two solos for Magnificat. Peyton Reinart led all players with five block assists, while Bethany Sherwood and Julie Majures each had four and Hamilton had three. Hamilton, Majures and Sherwood each had a solo block, and Stone was credited with two. “We worked a lot on blocking, which really showed,” said Hamilton, who had her typical all-around match with 21 assists, 11 kills, nine digs and three aces. “Our block was amazing. We were working so hard on that, and to see it come to life and work is a really good feeling. I’m just really proud of us. Our defense was insane.” In the regular season match, Magnificat outside hitter Sydney Borowy had her way and dominated the match with big hit after big hit. The University of Connecticut commit appeared to be on her way to another big match in the semifinal, but after posting nine kills in the first set, she finished the match with 15. “I think our block just adapted better (after the first set),” said Coffman. “At one point in the third set, we switched Bethany to the right side, and she blocked (Borowy) right away. That’s something we’ve been working on, something we’ve been practicing.” Despite returning much from last year’s team that reached the Final Four, the earlier loss to Magnificat allowed the Eagles to return to a role that they relish, that of the underdog. “We haven’t really been in an underdog position since my sophomore year against Avon Lake going into the regional semifinals,” said Hamilton. “And, you know, we just love being in that position. I think it gives us a lot of adrenaline, and we want it so bad. It’s just a great position to be in, and we took advantage of it, that’s for sure.” The Eagles have the opportunity to play that role once again, as Anthony Wayne is the top-ranked team in the state, matching Avon’s record of 25-1. Last year in the semifinals, the Generals edged Avon, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-6. Thus, the Eagles are the underdogs once again. “This is our revenge weekend,” said Stone.