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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Monday, October 26, 2009 9:49 PM

Photo courtesy of Betty Birzer

The Ottawa High School volleyball team finished second in a 4A sub-state tournament Saturday in Spring Hill. This was the third straight year Ottawa has been sub-state runner-up. The team members are front row (from left), Taylor Koberlein, Alyssa Currier, Brittny Harms; second row, Angela Barth, Reggie Graf, Dana Peterson, Angela Geist, Maggie Bones, back row, Jaime Birzer, Mikela Scott, Paige Weidner and Alexis Roecker.

Cyclones peak during sub-state runner-up run

By The Herald Staff

SPRING HILL — The Ottawa High School volleyball team played its best matches of the season Saturday in the 4A sub-state tourney in Spring Hill.

The Cyclones, who played inconsistently throughout the season, found the right combination en route to its sub-state runner-up run.

Ottawa defeated Eudora (25-16, 18-25, 25-23) and top-seeded Spring Hill (25-23, 25-23).

The Cyclones fell to Paola in the finals, 25-19, 25-15.

“It was an exciting day,” Ottawa coach Kendra Oberzan said. “We peaked at the right time in our season, and made a great run to the finals.”

The fifth-seeded Cyclones opened the tourney with a fast start against Eudora.

“We started strong against Eudora,” Oberzan said. “The girls played amazing defense and their energy level was extremely high. It was a fun atmosphere to play in and our team seemed to feed off of the noise and excitement that was going on throughout the gym.

“We controlled the first set by shutting down Eudora’s offense. In the second set they adjusted to our block and were more effective hitting out of the middle. The third and deciding set was back and forth throughout, with both defenses minimizing what shots the other could put down.”

Next, Ottawa stormed to a victory over the host, Spring Hill.

“The home crowd was loud and prepped for a victory,” Oberzan said. “Our group of sub-state rookies were pumped after their first-round win, but the crowd tripled in size and intensity for the match against Spring Hill.

The entire front row was lined with guys wearing bright yellow fireman bibs, and most of the crowd were wearing T-shirts that said ‘Bring On the Trucks....Cause We’re on Fire’. There were several fire trucks out in front of the school waiting to play their role in the celebration march.

“But there was a different T-shirt in the building that our senior girls created at the beginning of the year. Less popular yes, but certainly not less powerful. The shirts simply said ‘the most dangerous storms are unpredicted.’ As soon as our girls started to play, the effects of the storm were seen on our opponents. The cyclone was strong and powerful, yet quick and spry consuming every flame that Spring Hill would fire its direction.”

Ottawa jumped to leads in both games and held off the Broncos’ rallies in each.

“The fire was raging, but the cyclone was able to quench every last spark,” Oberzan said. “The most dangerous storms are unpredicted. Spring Hill was stunned by the Cyclone team they saw on Saturday. The previous two cyclones they had met with during the season had been undeveloped, but this one was in full form.

“Unfortunately the storm ran its course in the semifinal, and had dwindled to a gentle rain shower by the finals.”

In the finals, Paola avenged a loss to Ottawa a week earlier in the Frontier League tourney.

“We were flat and out of sync from the start of the match,” Oberzan said. “We made a few good attempts to rally back, but could never overcome the deficit we’d created through our unforced errors.

“It looked like our storm had physically and emotionally worn out. The girls still wanted it there just didn’t seem to be enough left to put a strong attack together.”

Ottawa closed the season 7-2 after going 11-19 to finish at 18-21.

“No one expected us to take second at sub-state this year, except us,” Oberzan said. We knew we could compete with all of the teams that were going to be there, but we also knew we would have to be playing our best to win.

“We did play our best, but we just couldn’t sustain it through the last match.

“I’m extremely proud of the improvement these girls showed through the year, especially in the last couple of weeks. When your team is losing the tendency is often to get discouraged and check out for the end of the season, but these girls chose a different route. They chose to hope, and that made all the difference.”

Maggie Bones — 17 kills, 45 digs

Jaime Birzer — 17 kills, 30 digs, 2 solo blocks, 4 block assists

Alexis Roecker — 16 kills,

Reggie Graf — 28 assists, 4 aces

Angela Geist — 27 assists

Dana Peterson — 33 digs

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Cyclones peak during sub-state runner-up run

By The Herald Staff

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.