Storm pulls together against PHS

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Bureau Valley’s Sam Shepard tries to block a kill attempt by Princeton’s Lacey Jensen in Thursday’s regional semifinals at the Storm Cellar. The Storm avenged a season-opening loss to PHS with a 2-1 victory to advance to the finals. (BCR photo/Mike Vaughn)

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MANLIUS — Bureau Valley coach Vicki Litherland said her Storm’s strong team play pulled them through Thursday’s regional volleyball semifinals against Princeton. PHS coach Andy Puck said it was his team’s lack of team play that knocked it out.
 The Storm finished strong in the third set to defend their homecourt by upending the defending regional champions 25-15, 18-25, 25-16.

“We were ready for this,” Litherland said. “That’s a win they really wanted and for nine days they really focused on being better as a team, and when you look at the stats, that’s exactly what we did. They really came together as a team.”

That’s what Puck was hoping for, but didn’t get it, he said.

“I had a friend tell me we had a very athletic team, but what we lack is a team. That showed the last couple weeks,” he said. “The postseason is all about the team. My kids don’t completely understand that.”

The Storm had been waiting for this moment since early September when they dropped their season opener to Princeton at the Storm Cellar.

“We really wanted to replay Princeton all season. We were really pumped to play them and pulled together and brought out a victory,”  BV senior Gabbie Fisch said.

“We definitely wanted to beat them,” BV senior Lauren Hasbrook said. “It’s just a great victory every time Bureau Valley can beat Princeton. The rivalry is really great, the atmosphere was really great, we really wanted to win.”

With the win, the Storm (21-10) advance into Saturday’s regional finals against Mendota, which ousted Three Rivers champ Riverdale 2-1 Thursday. The Spikers beat the Storm in last year’s regional finals.

Bureau Valley, which dropped its season opener to Princeton at the Storm Cellar in three games, were determined to not let that happen again Thursday. They really never gave Princeton much of a chance.

With an 8-6 lead, BV junior hitter Aubrey Franklin sent a crisscross for a sideout. Lauren Brummel served up an ace on the back right corner and used a Fisch kill and a PHS error to run BV’s lead to 12-6.

The Storm continued its surge, building leads of 16-9 on another Fisch kill, 18-11 on a long push by PHS and then 19-12 on another cross shot by Franklin.

Puck called for timeout, but another PHS error made it 20-12. Puck stood applauding, imploring his team to rally together.

Another tough serve by Brummel (7 points, 2 aces) made it 22-13 Storm. A kill by Melanie Thompson pushed the Storm to 24-15. Jolyn Kane hit for the PHS sideout, but a net serve by Molly Stephens (11 points, 20 assists), the last serve in her brilliant career, was the final blow for the Tigresses.

The difference for the Storm in the third game, Litherland said, was they kept the Tigresses on the defensive.

“We attacked. We knew if we put the ball up and started swinging, we’d get by,” she said.

“When you’re not comfortable you can’t attack them and Bureau Valley did that to us,” Puck said.

In the first game, Brummel used an ace and two PHS hitting errors for a three-point string for a 15-9 Storm lead. Jolyn Kane countered with a trifecta on two aces and a Lacey Jensen kill to make it 15-13.

The Storm outscored the Tigresses 10-2 to close the game out, aided by three Tigress hitting errors, a missed dink, a bad push and a game-ending short serve by Jordann Mason. Franklin had an ace and Fisch (7 kills) delivered a kill down the stretch.

Jolyn Kane energized the Tigresses early in the second game with a pair of aces for a 7-3 lead. The Storm scored six straight to go up 9-7 and held onto a 11-9 edge before the Tigresses caught fire.

Kills by Mason and Allie Youngren gave the Tigresses a 13-11 lead.  Stephens finished a three-point string to run the PHS lead to 21-13 lead when the Storm let a set dropped untouched. A kill by Mason off a free ball and a Storm hitting error made it 24-14.

The Storm sided out and scored three more points, but a serving error gave the Tigresses the 25-18 game 2 win.

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