'Continue to build on this': Marlington High School girls volleyball packs gym, wins again

LEXINGTON TWP. — Marlington High School’s unbeaten volleyball team packed the house and proceeded to pack quite an impressive wallop on its home court Thursday evening.

The state’s sixth-ranked Dukes rolled to a three-set 25-11, 25-11, 25-9 Eastern Buckeye Conference sweep of Carrollton before a large crowd in a “Pack the Gym” event held to raise awareness for women’s sports.

The idea was spurred by a recent University of Nebraska outdoor volleyball match which attracted a sellout crowd of 92,003 fans, a national women’s sports event record, to Memorial Football Stadium for a match between the Cornhuskers and Omaha.

Marlington’s special “Pack the Gym Night” was the brainchild of Duke volleyball coach Stephanie Tortola and was also a huge success. The event included food trucks, face painting for kids by Marlington’s Character Counts Club, as well as drawings, games and prizes.

“Nebraska volleyball did it and I thought how fun that would be to bring that to the high school and to show attention to our sports and draw attention to women’s sports in general, but volleyball as well,” said Tortola. “I was thankful that Carrollton agreed to celebrate this with us tonight. It was (a great crowd) and it was fun for us to play in that type of environment.”

Marlington athletic director Steve Miller called the event, “a neat experience,” and added the Dukes’ football team came out to support their volleyball classmates.

Marlington volleyball stays unbeaten in dominant performance

On the court, the Dukes raised their overall record to 8-0 and their EBC-leading ledger to 6-0 as they dominated all three sets against Carrollton, 25-11, 25-11 and 25-9.

Leading Marlington was junior standout Layne Graffice, who finished with a team-high 10 kills, including some laser shots over the net.

“Layne Graffice is just hitting so well for us,” praised Tortola.

Graffice, who competes in AAU volleyball in the offseason, knows that playing nearly year-round helps her stay at the top of her game.

“It (AAU season) starts about November and goes all the way to July now,” said Graffice. “I think it affects a player as an individual and it really shows on the court.”

Graffice also thanked the fans for turning out en masse.

“I really appreciate everybody coming out tonight in support of women’s sports,” she said. “In the big picture, it’s more than just us, and hopefully other high schools will see this and continue on (with such special nights).”

Carrollton volleyball embraces event, too

Like Tortola, Carrollton head coach Amanda Tressa jumped at the idea of a special match in support of women’s athletics.

“She (coach Tortola) came in and was very excited about it and said, let’s jump on board, just like Nebraska, and I said, absolutely, we’ll do whatever you want,” said Carrollton head coach. “The more we can support women in the community, the better.”

And the many fans in attendance loved the special evening as well.

Longtime Marlington supporter Lynnette Blasiman, the grandmother of Duke volleyball and basketball standout Chelsea Evanich, was one of those fans in attendance.

“For 50 years I’ve been sitting on the sidelines or bleachers watching all kinds of sports programs, and when we were in high school, never did we see the hype for these female programs, and I think Marlington should be really proud for stepping up for this cause tonight,” said Blasiman. “I’m especially excited that the Lady Dukes are here tonight getting the credit they deserve.”

'They are a great team': Marlington volleyball makes an impression

Marlington had several other statistical leaders in the match, including Chelsea Evanich (five kills, 12 points), Emily Gainer (four kills), Janelle Swisher (20 assists) and Giana Bogunovich (13 points).

“Our defense and our serving are setting us apart right now,” lauded Tortola. “We’re really consistent on our serve receive, our serving and our defense.”

“They (the Dukes) are a great team and they’ve worked hard and they deserve everything that they are getting and it’s a great thing for our league,” said Tressa.

With the setback, Carrollton, which is extremely youthful, is now 4-10 overall and 2-4 in EBC action. Carrollton returns to action at unbeaten Indian Valley on Monday.

“We had nine seniors last year, so coming back we have one returning letterman, so it’s been a learning process,” noted Tressa.

'All the way to state' is Marlington volleyball's goal

Graffice feels Marlington has what it takes to go far in the postseason.

“I think we have the potential to be (the best Marlington team in history) and our main goal is to go all the way to state,” she stated.

Up next, the Dukes travel to Avon Lake for a quad meet this weekend.

“We’ll play two games (Friday night) and two games Saturday against teams up north,” said Tortola.

Thursday, though, the focus was on enjoying the win and the atmosphere the Dukes created.

“It’s so nice to see the support for the team, for the school and for our program,” observed Tortola. “We had a lot of youth here and a lot of girls came up to me and said, ‘I want to play volleyball.’ Our girls are great role models for them and we just want to continue to build on this.”

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Marlington High School packs gym for its state-ranked volleyball team