ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
It’s widely accepted that volleyball is an offensive sport. Edgewood, however, used its defense to knock off visiting Conneaut, 25-14, 25-21, 25-22, Wednesday in non-conference action.
“(Edgewood coach Dave Fowler’s) teams over the years, and I’ve known him a long time, have played defense,” Conneaut coach Paul Stofan said. “They frustrated us to death on defense (tonight). They make you earn your points. We didn’t earn them.
“We hit the ball into the net. We hit the ball out of bounds. We didn’t make passes. You just can’t do that. It’s a typical Edgewood team. They did a nice job. We didn’t.”
For the most part, the Spartans (1-4) dictated the pace of the match with their offense. The Warriors (6-0), however, made play after play, returning the ball time and again to Conneaut, eventually leading to a hitting error.
“We do (play good defense),” Fowler said. “I didn’t think we’d be as strong defensively as we are right now. I thought we’d eventually get to this point. Man, I tell you, we do dig balls up.
“Our seniors play outstanding. They’re just solid. They make very few mistakes. Every touch they have is a positive touch. We need those four to play rock solid and they have.”
Passing was an issue for Conneaut, as it has been for much of the season so far.
“We have the potential on offense to be very good,” Stofan said. “It’s frustrating for me right now. I’m having a rough time. We’re 1-4 right now and I was not expecting it. I wasn’t thinking we’d be great, but I was thinking we’d be better than we are.
“The entire team is frustrated. It’s not because of a lack of effort. I don’t question their effort. Sometimes I do question their decision making. They’re frustrated. I’m frustrated. The whole thing is catchy. Winning is catchy. Losing is catchy. We’ve got to find ourselves and get back on track.”
“I thought their libero (Lydia Coccitto) did really well,” Fowler said. “She saves a lot of balls. They just had too many offensive errors. For every point they scored, they gave us two. They played well enough defensively to win.”
On the other side, the Warriors made very few mistakes.
“If I had to grade it out, I’d say we played an A game and there’s still room to be better,” he said. “This is the best team we’ve played. We played them in a scrimmage and we didn’t win a game. Now, we did.”
That performance was keyed by a near-perfect night from setter Anna Applebee. She was 83 of 85 setting with 60 ace sets.
“She gets the ball up where it’s hittable,” Fowler said. “She’s intelligent and runs a great offense. Whether we had good passing or not, her sets were the same, regardless of the pass.
“Anna gets a big round of applause. If we didn’t have her, the offense would struggle, guaranteed.”
Katie Thomas led the Warriors with nine aces on 13-of-21 spiking. Taylor Diemer had seven aces on 16-of-18 spiking and Judith Silvieus was 12 of 14 spiking with three aces.
Four-consecutive hitting errors by Conneaut gave Edgewood a 6-3 lead in Game 1. Two spiking errors by the Spartans, an ace spike by Diemer and an ace block by Alyssa Johnson extended that lead to 22-14.
After an ace serve by Conneaut’s Angie Zappitelli, the Warriors led, 19-18, in Game 2. A spiking error by the Spartans, a consecutive blocks by Silvieus and Thomas, and an ace spike by Thomas, gave Edgewood a 23-18 lead.
“This is (Thomas’) third year,” Fowler said. “We try to use her as much as we can. She’s pretty streaky. Having good servers behind her helps. Jaime (Rogers) has a driving serve. We end up with free balls and we run a quick middle set for Katie. As long as we keep using her, we’re in good shape. I think we have to use her more.”
Conneaut was again within one, 19-18, in the third game following an ace block by Megan Tessmer. Johnson gave the Warriors a surge with an ace block and the Spartans made consecutive passing errors to put Edgewood up, 22-18.
Angie Zappitelli paced the Spartans with 15 aces on 25-of-30 spiking. Lexi Zappitelli added nine aces on 18-of-23 spiking and Coccitto was 37 of 38 passing.
Ettinger is a freelance writer from Ashtabula.
Click here to subscribe to The Star Beacon print edition.
Click here to subscribe to The Star Beacon replica edition.
