'This rivalry runs deep': Dover volleyball tops New Philly in front of packed gym

NEW PHILADELPHIA — Dover and New Philadelphia’s volleyball teams put on an entertaining, back-and-forth battle one would expect when arch-rivals collide here Thursday evening.

It was so good that it took four sets to decide it, as the visiting Crimson Tornadoes topped the Quakers 3-1 before a large crowd that packed the Quakers’ gym.

“It’s great to see this many people come out and watch the volleyball game and support us in the Dover-Philly match,” said Dover head coach Beth Mathews. “We’ve had some deep, deep sets (with the Quakers) — big rivals and lots of long rallies.”

“You can always count on the kids coming and the community coming to support because this rivalry runs deep,” said New Philadelphia head volleyball coach Susan Riesen. “It’s definitely an amazing rivalry — just a lot of heart and passion and intensity that goes into it.”

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Thursday’s match actually marked the second time this season the Tornadoes and Quakers had to go extra sets, as Dover edged the Quakers 3-2 in their first meeting back on August 28th.

The rematch was just as entertaining as the momentum swung back and forth throughout the evening between the Tornadoes (12-9) and Quakers (12-10).

“I thought overall that all of our players really had a serving focus tonight, and I thought we served it tough and hit our targets,” Mathews said.

“We missed a lot of serves, and you can’t do that in this game,” said New Philadelphia’s Riesen. “You can’t give them free points like that.”

Dover took as much as a 20-11 lead in the first set and went on to win it 25-16, following a kill by the Tornadoes’ Caroline Hanner for the 25th point.

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But the Quakers answered in the second set. After Dover had taken as much as a 17-14 lead, New Philadelphia responded by outscoring the Tornadoes 11-7 to win 25-23 when Eberle Baker recorded the 25th point at the net.

Tied at 3-3 in the third set, Dover went on a 22-11 run to win 25-16.

“(The Tornadoes) have a nice offense,” Riesen said. “They were picking up a lot of balls that I feel would have dropped normally, and that’s hard and that frustrates our offense and our hitters sometimes. (The Tornadoes) did a great job on their side of the net.”

With the intensity building on both sides, New Philadelphia strolled out to as much as a seven-point (11-4) lead to open the fourth set. But Dover answered the challenge with a run of its own and caught the Quakers at 16-16, following a block by the Tornadoes’ Hailey Kuecher. With momentum on its side, Dover went on to outscore the hosts 9-5 to win the set and match, 25-21, as Jenna Molk recorded the 25th point on a kill.

“It really was (a great comeback),” said Mathews. “Once we calmed back down, I thought we really battled back and decided we were going to get it done.”

Dover’s statistical leaders on the night included Quincey Werntz (10 digs, 35 assists, two kills and nine blocks), Mackenzie Neininger (four digs, five kills and two blocks), Caroline Hanner (nine digs, 10 kills and two blocks), Hailey Kuecher (10 kills, 13 blocks), Jenna Molk (four kills and three blocks), Chera Schmidt (12 digs and three aces) and Madeline Fockler (21 digs, one ace).

“I really thought Madeline Fockler did a great job, she held down the backcourt really well,” Mathews said. “From a team standpoint, everybody did their job in that aspect, I think we had great blocking across the front, we had six people up there blocking, and we had lots of players with double-digit kills. Quincey (Werntz) is running the show and doing a nice job. I just think everybody did their job.”

The Quakers’ stat leaders included Sidney Vandall (10 kills, 13 digs), Ava Riesen (eight kills, 10 digs), Ellie Mason (six kills) and Marisa Loader (31 assists, 10 digs).

“I told them in the huddle, we’re like a switch and when we’re on, we’re on fire — we just have to have that switch on all time,” Riesen said. “When that switch is off, we kind of settle and then we let them dominate, so that was kind of the difference tonight.”

Sixth-seeded Dover plays 11th-seeded Steubenville on Wednesday evening in a D2 sectional final at Indian Valley at 6 p.m.

Seventh-seeded New Philadelphia is also in D2 sectional tournament final action Wednesday night when the Quakers play the 18th-seeded Cambridge Bobcats at River View High School at 6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Dover volleyball tops New Philadelphia in front of packed gym