By John Bombatch
CENTERVILLE — A bad break and perhaps the smallest player on the court combined to put an end to Beavercreek’s girls volleyball season Saturday Oct. 22 at Centerville High School.
Third-seeded Beavercreek (15-9) lost to no. 7 Miamisburg in five sets 25-16, 14-25, 25-23, 22-25, 12-15 in the Division I sectional final. The Beavers had defeated the same Vikings bunch in three close sets back on Sept. 15.
“We’ll give them credit. They played well, and we just couldn’t catch a break,” Beavercreek coach Tim Green said, moments after the match. “Sometimes things aren’t meant to be. … It’s tough. It’s especially tough for our seniors. I’m really proud of them for how hard they worked this season and for how they improved. They served as models for our entire program.”
Seniors Molly Donohue, Aly Petering, Beth Boos and Brook Farrell played their final match for BHS.
The only “break” Beavercreek did get, they didn’t want.
With the deciding fifth set drawing to its first tie at 11-all, junior Kelly Goenaga-Lask motioned to Green that she had broke her finger after trying to block a hard crushing spike from Miamisburg’s Paige Bruns. Green had to sub his outside hitter out of the lineup, and called a timeout.
Beavercreek never recovered.
Bruns, easily one of the smallest players on the court, had the hot hand in that deciding fifth set. After the timeout, the Vikings senior hit two more kills, and teammate Maggie Drury served up an ace, in the deciding 15-12 Miamisburg win.
“Bruns was amazing. She had eight kills, just in that last game. Eight!” Miamisburg coach Suzy Lippert said. “She’s our senior go-to player, especially when we need points. She’s so clutch and we just got her the ball. Our defense did a great job in keeping everything alive, and we got good passes to her and she did the rest. That was an amazing performance against a very good Beavercreek team.”
Unofficially, Bruns had 16 kills and a service ace for Miamisburg while teammate Lexie Rang led everybody with 19 kills and three blocks.
Sarah Loughman led the Beavers with 12 kills and a block. Goenaga-Lask recorded 11 kills and a block to go with her broken finger. Setter Beth Boos contributed assists on most of those kills. She also came up with six kills, a few quick-set winners, one block and a couple service aces in the loss.
With the win, Miamisburg (16-8) takes on Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 in the first round of district competition. That match is scheduled to take place at Liberty Township Lakota East High School.
Bellbrook upset by Alter
LEBANON — Beavercreek wasn’t the only area team to get bit by the upset bug on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Division III top seed Bellbrook also fell in five sets. Third-seeded Kettering Alter rallied to take a 20-25, 25-18, 25-12, 20-25, 15-8 win in the sectional final at Lebanon High School.
The Southwestern Buckeye League’s Southwestern Division champions, Bellbrook finished its season with a 22-3 overall mark. Alter (12-7) out of the Greater Catholic League’s Co-Ed ranks, will face another GCL Co-Ed team — Cincinnati McNicholas — in district play at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 at Kettering Fairmont’s Trent Arena.
