Orrville captures tournament magic again in dramatic win over Northwestern

DOYLESTOWN — A year ago, Orrville was the Cinderella story of the postseason.

On Wednesday night, the Red Riders found out that the shoes still fit.

The Red Riders survived every punch a feisty Northwestern team threw at them en route to posting a 26-24, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 16-14 victory in a Div. III Elyria Sectional semifinal.

And it was the handful of players that experienced that run to the regional finals last fall — Avery Haley, Sophie Pertee and Annie Ayers — that helped assure Orrville another tournament game and, maybe, a shot at another magical October.

“It was just grit and determination,” said Red Riders coach Hillary Plybon, whose team advances to play Garfield Heights Trinity on Saturday in Doylestown. “I think some of that senior leadership really helped to bring others up with them.”

Indeed, it did as Orrville (11-12) survived watching its lead in the second game disappear, a brutal fourth set where the Huskies (13-11) came out of the gate and controlled things, and match point in the fifth game to advance.

“We knew it was going to be tough because Northwestern is so scrappy,” Haley said. “We knew we had to be scrappy, too, or we would've been out.

“But we knew what it felt like last year and we want to go back,” she added. “We knew Northwestern was tough and we needed to fight hard if we wanted to get back there.

And it was the fourth set, almost as much as those closing moments of the fifth, that set the tone.

Trailing 21-9 and completely out of rhythm, a comeback attempt that fell just three points short seemed to get Orrville back into system. The hot hands of Haley (19 kills, 18 digs) and Pertee (15 kills) got the Riders as close as 24-21 before the Huskies’ Ella Hartsel closed things out with a kill.

That turnaround was just the spark they needed.

“In that set, we were able to get that momentum back partially, just helped us reset and made us feel like we can do this,” Plybon said. “To rally down by that much ... I was really proud of that.  We got some of that aggressiveness back.”

Those positive feelings helped Orrville overcome watching its three-point lead late in the fifth set vanish as Lillian Wakefield had a tip, followed by Morgan Ervin’s ace that hit the back line. That led the Huskies’ Claire Buchholz smashing a kill and then teaming up with Wakefield for a block to make it a 14-13 Northwestern lead.

A net violation swung the momentum right back, however, before a Haley hit was mishandled and then another return sailed just right of the net to end the match, ending the season for the Huskies who have found ways to battle all year long.

“This was a fantastic match,” said Northwestern coach Becky Mitchell, whose team ends the season 12-12. “The heart and intensity were there, they wanted it and they wanted it bad. I can’t fault the effort.”

For Haley, her veteran teammates, and some of the tournament rookies on the squad, those moments late said a lot.

“We knew we weren't going to give up and I think the underclassman stepped up very well throughout that run,” the senior said. “(The underclassman) could've just said, 'OK, there's next year,’ but the seniors knew it was all or nothing.”

Aiiya Tuggle, just a sophomore, ran the Red Riders attack with efficiency the tune of 25 assists, dishing out to Haley, Pertee and Ayers (7 kills), while Candace Troyer had a team-best 20 digs.

On the flip side, the Huskies saw their season come to a close, despite gritty efforts from a host of players.

Josie Wright was dominant at the net with 17 kills, with Hartsel adding 11, but it was the all-around play of girls like Arianna Firebaugh (21 assists, 20 digs) and Brailee Beun (24 assists, 3 blocks) that seemed to tell the story.

“These seniors really bought in (when I took the job) and they’ve really helped to build this program,” Mitchell said. “Even though we have four amazing seniors leaving, we have some great underclassman, too.”

The night, however, belonged to Orrville, who now will see if they can advance to another district tournament appearance with a win over Trinity.

And while Plybon stays away from the predication business, the coach saw a lot of positives down the stretch with her team’s ability to counterpunch when other teams through punches, jabs and everything they have at them.

“It's about the process until it’s not. In tournament time it's not,” she said. “We have a mix of some older players and some younger and to see them stay consistent, even down in sets, and then overcome when we lost that big lead still come back and finish a match is super encouraging to see.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Volleyball: Orrville gets five-set sectional win over Northwestern