Copley rallies to beat Padua in OHSAA volleyball regional semifinal

ALLIANCE — The Copley volleyball team flirted with elimination Thursday night and came away smelling like a rose.

Parma Padua clearly had the momentum after the third set of a Division II regional semifinal match at Alliance High School, but Copley senior captains Katey Firestine and Alexa Strandberg and their friends were not ready to quit.

Instead, Firestine, Strandberg and their teammates rallied to win the final two sets of the best-of-five match to lead Copley (19-8) past Padua (12-14) and into a regional championship match at 2 p.m. Saturday against Marlington at Alliance.

"I am super excited for us," said Strandberg, a University of South Alabama volleyball recruit. "We started off with a young team this season. It took us a little bit of time to get started. We had some early season losses and people kind of thought we might not be as good as we thought we could be.

"We have come out and are showing everybody who we are, and I am super excited that we get to go on and play in the regional final."

Copley's last two trips to a volleyball regional final were in 2004 and 2005, both in Division II.

Copley won a regional title in 2004 by defeating Crestwood and Chagrin Falls Kenston at Stow and finished as a state runner-up to eventual state champion Cincinnati Roger Bacon at Wright State University. The 2005 Copley team finished as a regional runner-up.

This Copley team features three returning letter winners: 5-foot-9 Firestine, 6-2½ Strandberg and 5-11 sophomore Kalynn Stoner.

Firestine, Strandberg, 5-10 Josie Tielsch, 5-2 Ellie Steller and 6-0 Abby Klein provide the senior leadership.

"We only had three returning lettermen, and that is not normal," Firestine said. "We basically had a brand new team when the season started. Our season was rough, but then once we got to the playoffs we finally started clicking and everybody started to realize that they didn't want each playoff game to be their last game. The underclassmen are playing for the seniors and the seniors are fighting to continue the season."

Copley 5-10 sophomore Meryn Stacy totaled 19 digs and nine service points. Firestine finished with 14 kills, Tielsch and 5-9 sophomore Annie Quinlan both had 18 assists, 6-0 sophomore Angelina Cerra had five blocks and 5-4 junior Carmen Cunat contributed five aces.

"We didn't have the best regular season, definitely, but we came back and we all love our seniors so much and we don't want this to be the end for them," Quinlan said. "Us being such a young team, I am so proud of us. Coming back from losing two sets pretty bad tonight, it is about bouncing back with momentum."

How Copley advanced to a OHSAA volleyball regional final

Copley won the first set 25-21 and then Padua took the second set 25-16. The Bruins built a 18-3 lead in the third set and rolled to a 25-12 victory.

Facing elimination, Copley bounced back to win the fourth set 25-22 and the fifth set 15-10.

"Coach gave us a motivational speech to get us back on track," Tielsch said. "We all wanted to win. We all wanted to fight for it. We did not want this to be the end. ... Our regular-season schedule gave us high-level competition and prepared us for the playoffs. We realized that we were playing all of these tough teams and this is what the playoffs is going to look like."

Cerra spiked the ball to score Copley's final two points of the match. Stoner was also active at the net in the fifth set, and Cunat and Strandberg each served up a clutch ace.

"We could have easily given up," Copley eighth-year coach Antoine Pastor said. "We have a postseason team and we have a regular-season team, and they are two completely different seasons. In the regular season, we put up good numbers and we were competitive, but in the postseason we are tapping into what I always knew we had and it has been super exciting to watch them go.

"We could have easily give up after those two sets, but we are a team. I said in the huddle, 'Don't let the ball hit the ground,' and we didn't let the ball hit the ground. We played until the whistle and we stayed aggressive. I have great leadership from Katey Firestine. She went out there and brought fire. Natalia Hamilton brought us some fire. Ellie Steller brought us some fire."

Tough competition prepares Copley for volleyball postseason run

Copley opened the regular season with nonleague wins over Lake and Canton Central Catholic before finishing fourth in the Suburban League American Conference with a 9-5 record. Copley topped Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Kent Roosevelt and Tallmadge twice each, split with Highland and was swept by Aurora and Revere.

Aurora and Highland shared the SLAC championship and Revere took third.

"We were on and off in the regular season, but I feel like once we got to the postseason we realized that we wanted to win and we wanted to fight and compete," Stoner said. "We want to keep going for our seniors."

Copley also defeated Chagrin Falls and Howland in the regular season, split with Bay Village Bay and lost to Hoban and Wadsworth.

"All eight of our losses have been to state-ranked teams this year," Pastor said. "We had a tough schedule, which helped us prepare for games like this. I have nine new varsity kids, so I needed them to understand what my expectations were and that the schedule was going to be complicated. I wasn't going to play any cookie cutter to give them time to build. It was like, 'Guys, this is Copley volleyball and we come out and compete.'"

Freshman Ava Teixeira and juniors Alexis Walker and Ava Perkins are also among the newcomers making an impact for Copley.

"We split with good teams in the regular season and we played good teams that we lost to, but that is what we needed to win games like this in the playoffs," Stacy said. "... Even though the second and third sets tonight might have not been the best, we still came back and showed up and really put in the work. I wasn't going out without a fight and I knew my teammates felt the same way."

Copley has been impressive in the tournament with sectional wins over Pepper Pike Orange and Gates Mills Hawken, district victories over CVCA and Cleveland Heights Beaumont and Thursday's regional semifinal triumph over Padua.

"In set one, we were pretty comfortable ahead when we got to 15, and then they put the pedal down on us and we couldn't find a way to score," Padua coach James BeHarry said. "We rebounded in sets two and three and we were serving well, serving seams and attacking well and basically playing a cleaner game.

"Set four we started making errors, all self-inflicted, and we couldn't rebound from it. [Senior] Jessica Neiman was doing great for us on that right side. ... Jessica Neiman, senior setter Anna Mihacevich and senior libero Ellie Burke are our best players."

Padua is no slouch after finishing third in the Crown Conference, which features 2022 Division III state champion Mentor Lake Catholic and 2022 Division II state champion Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin.

"Everyone is contributing in big ways and we have a very competitive group," Pastor said, who was an assistant at Copley to Hannah Brenner and Chuck Musselman for a combined four seasons.

"... Our returning lettermen — Katey, Lex and Kalynn are hungry. Katey and Lex are seniors and Kalynn is only a sophomore. She has a lot of responsibility as a sophomore and I have high expectations for her. Those kids are competitive, they know how to lead by example and they want to win. They don't want this game to be their last. They enjoy playing together. We are playing like a family. We are playing like a unit. We are really taking this moment and having fun. We are enjoying the ride."

Firestine credited Pastor for putting Copley "in a really good spot to beat teams."

"Coach Pastor is such an amazing coach," Quinlan said. "He knows what to say to get everyone pumped up. To have the momentum and come back and win the final two sets is amazing. What really pushed me personally was when I saw all of our fans and my parents and my family standing up to cheer."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Copley defeats Padua to advance to OHSAA volleyball regional final