Bradley’s Veronica Hess serves one into the chilly night sky during an outdoor volleyball game in Panther Stadium. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
In the first regular-season girls volleyball match in central Ohio played outdoors, the Panthers rallied to beat sister-school Hilliard Bradley on Monday before a boisterous crowd inside the football stadium.
Hilliard, OH – On a comfortable but slightly breezy evening inside Hilliard Darby Stadium, the lights were on, the band was in attendance, and the student section was hyped for competition — but there wasn’t a football or soccer ball in sight.
Instead, those in attendance were treated to the screams of high school girls smacking a volleyball across a movable court purchased by the Darby athletics department and positioned in the middle of the football field.
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Central Ohio’s first outdoor regular-season match lived up to its billing, with the Panthers winning a thrilling five-set varsity match over sister school Hilliard Bradley.
“It was super fun,” Darby senior outside hitter Camryn Ludban said. “Warming up today, just looking up into the stands and being able to see my family and friends was really special. The student section really topped it off.”
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The 25-16, 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-6 victory represented Darby’s first win over the Jaguars since the 2017 season, and it proved to be a fitting ending considering the setting.
Not only did the players and fans get to experience a magnified version of the loudness and momentum swings that often accompany the sport, but the setting itself provided an additional element of intrigue.
While the sun was a factor during the freshman and junior varsity matches that began the evening, the varsity match tipped at close to 8 p.m., leaving only a temporary shadow before the players settled in for nearly two hours of competition under the lights.
Gusts of wind proved to wreak the biggest havoc on the varsity match, particularly on serving.
Tarah Wojnarowski caught the Jaguars off-guard with a little finesse on this shot during Darby’s come-from-behind win over Hilliard Bradley.
To keep the weather conditions as similar for both teams as possible, each team switched sides after every set.
“The whole crowd was amazing, and I know I was fired up because everyone else was,” Darby junior middle blocker Tarah Wojnarowski said. “With (the wind) on the left side of the court, you had to hit it less because the wind would carry it, and on (the home) side, you had to hit it a little harder because the wind was pushing it the other way.”
While Darby is 3-0 and off to its best start since 2016, Bradley has a 2-4 record after winning 16 matches a year ago.
After a kill by Ludban closed out the opening set for Darby, seniors Abby Stenger and Gracyn Bleyle were among the standouts as the Jaguars won the next two sets.
“Going into this, we figured this was going to go five sets,” Jaguars coach Shane Borden said. “Especially with it being a rivalry game, and with this atmosphere, it was an awesome game. We did a lot of things well, but so did Darby, credit to them. They’ve got a good coach over there, and it was awesome seeing all the kids coming out. We’d love to do this in the future.
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“I’ve been actually trying to do (an outdoor match) for over a year now. I saw them do it at Nebraska in college, and also at Newark High School (in a scrimmage). We weren’t able to get anything working last year, but Darby being able to do it this year awesome. I’m really glad we were able to make it work.”
Darby’s Brooke Sprockett is challenged at the net by Bradley’s Aubrey Johnson.
Both Borden and first-year Darby coach Herb Sharfenaker are hoping to make outdoor volleyball a regular part of district competition, including also potentially including the other district high school, Hilliard Davidson.
“Coming out in set one, it was beautiful,” Sharfenaker said. “When I took the job over, I thought it would be cool to do a scrimmage with us, Bradley and Davidson, and (athletics director Chris Ludban) said I’ve got one better with us having the match on ‘senior night.’ It was packed in here. What an evening for volleyball.”
A kill by senior Kameryn Durbin closed out the fourth set for Darby, forcing a fifth set the Panthers dominated.
Wojnarowski, who finished with a career-high 20 kills, served for the match’s final two points.
“That’s the best match I’ve ever had,” Wojnarowski said. “We just didn’t believe in ourselves, and then we were finally just like, ‘We’ve got this. We know we can beat them.’ We haven’t been able to beat them in the past for a long time. I never thought (our season) would be like this. It’s amazing.”
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Darby Libero Lila Handrahan serves one up in front of a racuous Jaguar student section.
Sharfenaker is a veteran coach of multiple sports who has been a part of groundbreaking circumstances before.
In addition to formerly coaching the Briggs girls volleyball program for 17 years, Sharfenaker played for the Ready baseball team in 1984 which remains the only team in program history to reach the state tournament.
His son Justin Sharfenaker, who serves as an assistant for the Panthers, played for Briggs’ inaugural prep boys team in 2017 and went on to play collegiately for Lincoln Memorial.
Senior libero Lila Handrahan is part of a seven-member senior class eyeing more memorable moments like the one that took place Monday.
“The court felt pretty normal for me because this is like the court we use for all of our club tournaments,” Handrahan said. “Switching sides was hard to adjust to because of where the wind was going, but I think we ended up figuring it out in the end and used the wind to our advantage.
Panther senior captain Cami Ludban and her squad did not disappoint on Senior night, as Darby ends a 7-year losing streak in a thriller, defeating Bradley in 5 sets.
“Our senior class is super tight, and we’ve always worked really hard. We’ve gone into the gym for extra reps whenever we can. We’ve put in the work, and the outcome is showing.”
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