GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2dhbDzL
As hot as it was in the Berkshire High School gymnasium on a beautiful Thursday, in a hotly contested matchup between the visiting Hawken Hawks and Berkshire Badgers that the Badgers won 3-0, there were other bigger winners.
It was a sea of bright green shirts showing support for kindergarten teacher Monica Stouffer and her family, whose triplets were born 24 weeks into her pregnancy. After more than 200 days in the hospital, the babies are finally home — and the community is stepping up to help to offset their huge hospital bills.
A foyer outside the gym had tables piled with attractive donated gift baskets and baked goods. Supporters and volunteers were pleased to make the effort a success. The 50/50 raffle alone raised $830.
“Our entire coaching staff really just stepped up and picked things up for everybody,” said Berkshire athletic director Brian Hiscox.
In improving to 10-4 overall and 8-1 in the Chagrin Valley Conference, the Badgers won by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-20, indicating a close matchup between two regular rivals; neither team ever had more than a five point lead.
After a sluggish start in which unforced errors were common, the Badgers finally got some sustainable offense from the service of Anna Loveland, who took her team from a 13-12 deficit to a 16-13 lead, which the Badgers grudgingly held for the rest of the first set. Five straight exchanges of possession iced the win in the set as Loveland placed a perfect dink to the center of the Hawk defense for the winner.
Sarah Conklin played a big role. The junior tallied five points in the match, with three aces, five kills and a huge night at the nets with 10 blocks.
“The coaches have really been great helping me since we merged here from Ledgemont,” she said. “My teammates have been so supportive since the transfer, and it’s been easy to grow into this system and learn.”
Brea Pennypacker, a dominant area star in track, also was big in this matchup, both keeping the ball alive defensively while serving up some big points.
Her four points and 15 digs kept a large number of Hawken spikes alive.
“I’m just trying to focus on my consistency,” she said. “The most important thing for us to do to win is to communicate and talk to each other all the time, so we are on the same page. I’m enjoying that a lot, as we are getting much better now as the season moves along.”
“The girls are really playing well right now,” coach Joni Prots said. “To this point, we’ve dealt with a lot of unforced errors, and while we had a few of them early tonight, things fell into place well, so I’m happy. Hawken is always tough on us, and tonight was no different.”
Power at the nets was advantageous for the Badgers.
Sparked by junior McKenna Tucek, who tallied six points, 18 kills, three blocks and 14 digs in her turns on the back lines, and Madison Chapman, with eight kills, three blocks and two digs, the Badgers got the putdowns when they were needed.
“We’re rebuilding this year,” Tucek said. “We’re really a young team, so we need to keep working to be consistent. I had some mistakes early in the match tonight, but was able to get some really great sets midway through the first set that got us some points, and we maintained our edge.”
Chapman, only a sophomore, sees good things ahead for her team.
“It is all coming together for us now, especially on defense,” she said. “We’re working hard on defense to get our offense going, and it’s working well. The more we can keep balls alive, especially like we did tonight, we can have a really good season.”
After the Badgers took a 3-0 lead in the third set, Loveland served up eight straight points for a 10-5 advantage and Hawken began to unravel. Keying the rally was a back-and-forth volley during the thirteenth point which crossed the nets 17 times. What appeared to be certain points were dug up by both teams and returned, many from out-of-bounds areas. The volley drew large cheers from both sections of the gym.
The match was closed out by one of many near misses during the match, as a Conklin slam, moving as fast as an Andrew Miller fastball, hit the net and dropped straight down for the match winner.
GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2dhbDzL