EUCLID — Brynn Ryan believes that the fact her Madison volleyball team started “flat-footed” on Tuesday had something to do with the fact it had already beaten Premier Athletic Conference rival North twice. But the Blue Streaks pulled it together, and were able to fend off the Rangers in a hotly contested Division I sectional semifinal match, 25-21, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20.

Madison came from two games down to defeat North in one regular-season meeting, and needed four games in the other. Now, Ryan and her troops hope to use that same factor to their advantage, when they will face Riverside, a fellow PAC team that beat them twice during the season.

In the nightcap of Tuesday’s action at Euclid High School, the second-seeded Beavers had an easy time of it, disposing Glenville, 25-5, 25-7, 25-5 in another sectional semifinal match.

Riverside (19-4) and fifth-seeded Madison (14-9) will square off for the sectional crown on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

Outside hitters Riley Riehl (12 points, 20 kills, 31 digs) and Ally Klimko (15 kills) and middle hitter Haley Dake (15 points, 13 kills, 16 digs) paced the Blue Streaks’ effort, which was just good enough to fend off a Ranger team that is 5-18 but played very tough.

“We came out flat-footed, actually, at first,” Ryan said. “We had to get warmed up before we actually came out and played. (Having beaten them twice) may be a reason why they were flat-footed in the first place. Beating them a third time (may have caused them some difficulty mentally).

“My two outside hitters — Ally Klimko and Riley Riehl — were on fire tonight. They actually helped us stay alive.”

“We came out kind of shaky and not doing our best, because we were going into sectionals and we were kind of nervous, making mistakes,” Riehl said. “We beat then twice already, we were just kind of afraid they were going to be like, ‘We have nothing to lose.’”

“We tried to make some adjustments on Riley Riehl,” North coach Erik Poje said. “She was up to the challenge.”

The Blue Streaks fell behind 13-6 in Game 1 with the help of a seven-point run by Allison Antosh (14 points). But they held seventh-seeded North without a point on its next six serves, then grabbed a 21-18 advantage on four Dake points.

An ace spike and two points by Kelly Lang (12 points, 14 kills) tied it, but Taylor Goudy’s tip gave Madison a sideout, and three points by Klimko  — one on an ace serve and two on Riehl kills — put away the game.

Six Riehl points gave the Streaks a 7-2 lead in Game 2, but the Rangers caught them at 8, 9, 10, 14 and 17 before a sideout and three points by libero Samntha Sulecki (36 digs) gave them a 21-18 lead.

Madison knotted it at 22 and then fought off three game points before a sideout and Antosh point evened the match.

Six points off Goudy’s service gave the Blue Streaks a 17-10 lead in Game 3. But after the score reached 18-11, two points by Krista Vogel and three by Sulecki helped the Rangers even it at 20, 22 and 23.

But two kills by Riehl — one for a sideout and one for a Goudy point – put Madison up, two games to one.

The Blue Streaks trailed only at 1-0 and 2-1 in Game 4, but that is not to say it was easy. Six points by Dake provided a 9-4 lead, but North tied it at 10. Three points each by Goudy and Hallie Vollmer helped to rebuild the lead at 18-12.

From that point, the best the Rangers could do was to get within two at 21-19. After a missed serve, two Klimko points  — both put away by Riehl  — brought Madison to the brink at 24-19. A missed serve ensued, but the Rangers returned the favor for the clincher.

Ryan related that she switched positions of some players, and reversed it for Game 4.

“My back row wasn’t ready right away, and then they got the point,” she said.

“We played in spots really intensely and went after it,” Poje said. “Madison had gotten us both games in the regular season. It’s always hard to beat a team for a third time because we make adjustments. And Madison did a nice job of adjusting to what we tried to do.”

Goudy had 13 points. Teammate Ashley Hixon had 76 assists and 16 digs.

Madison served at 94.9 percent as compared to 91.3 for North.

The second match was a mismatch, as the Tarblooders (8-5), seeded 13th among 13 schools, could achive just four points on serve. Only in one of the three games once did the serve make it through the full rotation, and when it did, it just barely did.

Following a sideout, Maggie Julius strung together 12 points. Alexis Parsons added five points in Game 1.

Jenna Wojkowski scored 11 points in Game 2. In Game 3, Jess Marut (9), Maria Zito (7) and Melissa Maczuzak (5) collected all of Riverside’s service points.

“We didn’t want to overlook anybody,” Riverside coach Brandy Thomas said. “So we knew going in playing Glenville, that it was going to be, like any given team going on any given day. The girls had to come and be prepared to play. We threw in different lineups in the match, so to keep the score where we were able to keep it at was really an accomplishment for the girls.”

Thomas related that the reason she chose to play in the sectional semifinals instead of getting a bye was to stay on the Tuesday-Thursday schedule, similar top the regular season.

“We still had goals that they were trying to achieve in that match,” she said. “So based on how they played today with crazy lineups tells me that we’re ready to move on; we’re ready to see Madison on Thursday. And hopefully, we can go on from there.”

“I think we worked really well as a team,” Zito, who finished with 10 points, said. “We tried different lineups, “We just came together and we controlled the ball really well.”

As for the prospect of facing a team that her girls have already defeated, Thomas showed some apprehension, similarly to what Madison had faced.

“It makes me a little nervous, because I don’t want the girls to think that since we’ve beaten them twice, we’re going to be able to beat ‘em again,” Thomas said. “We know a lot about Madison and Madison knows a lot about us. So we still have to be ready.

“We’re not going in there thinking that it’s going to be an easy match, by any means.”

Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.

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