Lake Catholic vs. Coldwater volleyball: Cougars sweep Cavaliers, win D-III state title
Nov. 12—FAIRBORN — After 12 years without a trip to the state finals appearance, Lake Catholic thought its reservoir might have run dry for a volleyball state title. Then the 2022 season hit.
The Cougars were regarded as the best team in Ohio from the onset of the season. On Nov. 12, all that stood between them and adding another banner to the gym was the Division III state final against Coldwater at the Nutter Center.
Lake Catholic started fast and left no doubt as it swept the Cavaliers, 25-12, 25-13, 25-20, for its first state championship since 2010.
This journey for Lake Catholic mirrored the team that won the state championship in 2010. Both reached the state semifinals only to fall short of their ultimate goal. Then both returned the next year and won the state championship.
Coach Kara Oster was a member of their 2009 and 2010 teams that reached the state stage, and has been at the helm of the two runs for the Cougars over the past two seasons. She saw a lot of similarities between the schools when she took the job and knew that this team had the chance to fill the gap in the wall of the Cougars' gym.
"It was a very similar journey," Oster said. "When you have a good year to get down here but can't come through it's a challenge for sure. But we got here last year and just ran into a good team. This year we had a lot of starters returning and this was a great group to get the job done. It has been a long time coming and we've been saying for years that there was a hole in our wall and we want to fill it. This is the group that got the job done, but I'm just lucky to be able to have a team as talented as this."
While Kara was a part of those two teams, her younger sister, Julia was there as a 3-year old, as well. She was among the players to lift the championship after the victory over the Cavaliers.
In the first two sets, Lake pull out to double-digit leads and Coldwater was unable to recover. In the third set, the Cavaliers found their block and made Lake Catholic earn the trophy.
The Cavaliers pushed it to 17 all and had the momentum on their side as they looked to force a fourth set.
But just like in the regular season, the Cougars played their way out of the situation rather than talk it over. They finished the set with an 8-3 run that sealed their sweep.
"We were able to work through that third set without having to call any timeouts," Oster said. "There were a couple of times in that third set where I would look at our assistant coaches and say if we don't get the next point, then we call timeout. But every time the players got the point. These girls handle a lot of situations by themselves and know that if they mess up they can rely on their teammates."
The success for the Cougars came from their balanced attack. Claire Duricky and Katie Sowko led the way with 10 kills each. The trio of Ava Budrys Rini, Kyra Walnsch and Natalya Bergant also were key parts of the attack.
A lot of that came off of the setting of Hannah Pattie, who finished the contest with 30 assists. She knew that getting as many different attackers involved would be a key to success for the Cougars.
Against a Coldwater team that was strong on the block, leaving them to guess proved to be beneficial as they ran up the score in the first two sets.
"All of our hitters are very well-rounded athletes," Pattie said. "When we got to the big stage Thursday, a lot of our hitters were nervous. But today you could see that everyone was a lot calmer. They were able to control their swings and that was the difference today in comparison to others."
On the attacks that did get over the block, the Cougars defense ready and flying. No matter the corner or spot the Cavaliers attempted to hit, the Lake Catholic defense was ready.
The senior duo of Emma Briganti and Mia Slogar led the charge as they combined for 25 of the Cougars' 53 digs. With the defense clicking early as fast as the offense, it proved to be a difficult task for Coldwater to counter.
"Knowing it was our last game we had to give it everything that we had," Briganti said. "Mia and I knew that we couldn't let any ball drop. We went to do everything that we could and that was something that we were very proud of."
Slogar added: "You want to work for everything, that's how we practice and we play how we practice."
Along with the state title, Pattie added her name to the OHSAA record books late in the second set, as she recorded her 1,000th assist on the season.
With the rest of the game still in front her, the junior knew she couldn't celebrate yet.
"When I was playing, I wasn't thinking about the mark at all," Pattie said. "Someone mentioned it to me on the court and that was a really nice moment. I was excited to get the mark and help set up the hitters for their mark."
The highlight of the Cougars championship is that they played a mistake-free attack in the first two sets with no hitting errors. Also to go with her 10 kills, Sowko finished with 13 digs, only behind Briganti for the team.
