Arrows end TC's tournament run

NORWALK - For the first time in school history, Columbian faced an opponent that it hadn't seen before.It was down to a one-point difference between Toledo St. Ursula Academy and Columbian, 21-20, before the Arrows tacked four points on.TC answered back with an ace from Lexi Beaston and a kill from Kaela Jenkins, but it wasn't enough of a rally in set three.St. Ursula swept Columbian 25-19, 25-21, 26-22 in a Division III regional semifinal Thursday."We played a very good team tonight," TC coach Hope Boes said. "Some things didn't work out for us, but our girls gave it their best effort, but it's the way it goes sometimes."Columbian ended their season 18-8 overall, as well as with back-to-back regional trips and three Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division title wins. TC will be moving to the Northern Ohio Conference next season, so to be able to get that title this season for the last time was significant, as TC joined SBC in 2017.St. Ursula will go on to play Akron Archbishop Hoban Saturday at Norwalk.The team wanted to go out swinging."Our team mindset coming into tonight was to go out swinging," Avary Brown said. "We just wanted to leave it all out there and I think we did just that. We wanted to do it for us."Brown is committed to Bluffton University to play volleyball. In Set 1, TC took a six-point lead before a setting error by Jenkins gave a free point to St. Ursula. TC and SU exchanged points back and forth until the teams tied at nine each, and then Kayden Campbell pulled the Arrows one point over with an ace, but her next serve went to the net, tying it back up. Mia Hasty then had a kill for SU and put the Arrows in the lead, but Jenkins' kill tied it back up for the last time 11 overall.From there, SUA made it difficult for the Tornadoes to dig out. The closest TC got in the set was after going on a small run after a timeout, for three points before SU finished a run to finish the set.Unfortunately, woes got worse for TC in Set 2. TC did damage control, as the battle to close the gap from 15-9 to 16-16 started with Jenkins driving a kill to the floor. SU got a point when Brown bumped the ball out of bounds.But, Hasty served the ball into the net, and from there, TC put a little run together. Brown got two aces out of the run, while Jenkins had two more kills and Josie Kancler added one too. "My mindset when I serve is to be as aggressive as possible," Brown said. "At the end of the day, if your team can't serve, then it's really difficult to win, so being able to be aggressive, whether it's pass, set, hit, or serve, it's to be aggressive."With that run, TC caught up and tied at 16.Campbell broke the tie, but Jenkins tied it right back up at 17 each. After TC errors, the Arrows took the lead.The Tornadoes battled back and pulled within one point late in the set, 22-21, but Ellie Panczyszyn and HollyAnn Zitkovic added the remaining kills to take set 2 for SU.Set 3 was the first time that TC had taken a major lead since the first one. They kept the lead until SU caught up to them. The teams then traded ties, but after a Malone tip, and an Abby Lewis spike hit the net, SU capitalized on a chance to keep the lead for good.TC kept in step, and kept the point difference to one or two points before Boes called a timeout after Campbell smacked the ball over. It was 20-18, and coming out of the time out, Beaston had a kill and SU had an error that brought it to 21-20.While it wasn't the ending that Boes was hoping for, she still saw growth in the program, particularly with the seniors. "Mentally we are a much tougher team," said Boes of the growth. "The seniors have stepped up so much and became the leaders that they needed to be, especially on the floor. I'm very proud of them."The leader in assists was Brown with 26. Jenkins led in kills with 18, followed by Beaston with six. The leader in digs for the Tornadoes was Gabby Shock with eight, followed by Emma Daugherty and Kancler with seven each. Brown led with four aces, while Erica Raubenolt and Kancler had two each.For the six seniors, this was the last time in their high school career that they will play as a Tornado. That doesn't mean that they didn't leave behind a legacy for the remaining players to follow."The six seniors put a lot into this program, and I'm so proud of them," said Brown of the senior leadership. "Everything they have done over the last four years has helped. They really helped build this team to where it is. To get to regionals twice, win three SBC titles, I think that they helped us get there. We just have to get to work in the offseason to get back to this point next year."