Tipp volleyball coach Howard Garcia prepares his girls this week for the school’s second trip to the OHSAA state tournament in five years. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Undefeated Tipp City faces off with their biggest test of the season Friday when the Red Devils face Akron Hoban in the OHSAA State Semi-Finals in Springfield.
Tipp City, OH – Tipp volleyball coach Howard Garcia seeks his second state volleyball title this weekend when his Tipp Red Devils face Akron Hoban in the semi-final round of the OHSAA state tournament Friday, at Wittenberg University.
The Red Devils are 27-0 on the year, have one of the great stories of any team in the tournament…and Garcia has never felt better about the way one of his teams has played at this level of the tournament. And at practice on Monday the typically gregarious Garcia outlined their preparation for Akron Hoban when they meet Friday morning at 10 am.
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“Nothing that special, really,” he began. “We’ll taper our work routine down from the normal, probably sharpen some work on skills, try not to get anyone hurt, and then get into the scouting component…some idea of how they’ll play us on paper. And then see what happens after that.”
And his thoughts on mental preparation, where coaches at the state tournament in the past have been concerned of kids talking themselves out of winning before they ever play….!
“Before the Ursuline game last weekend I told the girls that it was just another game,” he laughed. “Of course there’s a little different impact, because if you lose your season is over. If you win you move on, and you get a little bit more glory. You have to get that kind of mindset, and they had it. They had it against Talawanda, they had it against Ross, and they had it against Ursuline. We’ll have a little controlled scrimmage Wednesday against Loveland…they’re Division I now and they’ll be in the semi-finals, too…and we’ll see if we can maintain competitive edge and calm at the same time. We want them to understand that it’s still just one match at a time.”
He’s won a state title before, at Middletown Fenwick a decade ago, and in 2020 he took another Tippecanoe team to the state tournament where they lost to Gilmour Academy in the semi-final round. Earlier in the year he was asked to compare the two teams.
“I’d have to wait to see if we get there before I can do that,” he said then.
And now that they’re there……?
“The same record as the other team (2020),” adds Garcia. “Everything’s the same. But this team has been playing together longer. They were there last year, and now have a chance to take another step.”
“Same record, 27-0,” he smiled. “Same record as to consecutive sets won. Everything is exactly the same. The only difference is that this team, this year, has been playing longer together. The 2020 team kinda’ flipped a switch as a senior group that one year and took over. This team has been here before, last year, had it taken away from them with that [regional] loss to Ursuline. And now they have a chance to take another step.
“I think the skill levels of the two teams were very similar, but this team now is a little more calm and collected. They need a little more push, sometimes a little controversy coming from the coach. The other team you just rolled the volleyballs out and they’d go for it, and then when they needed something they’d come to the coach. Two different personalities of teams, but the same result. Occasionally you have go light a fire with this group and they’re OK with it. They understand. Sometimes we get too comfortable, and that’s what happened in the third set with Ursuline. We let that set get away.”
And therein lies the great story about this 2025 Tipp team. “We let that set get away?” In twenty seven matches over the season, they’ve only lost three sets out of 84. That’s a 96.4% winning percentage!
In the volleyball community there is great respect for Akron Hoban, and especially because of the comparative schedules. It’s assumed that Hoban (22-5) has had the tougher route, given Tipp’s dominance in the Miami Valley League.
“They’re good,” smiles Garcia. “You hear that because of our schedule, and every year when we go South (Cincinnati) we’ve proven those people wrong…wins over Bacon, Fenwick, Ursuline. Good teams. Now North is coming down to us and we’ll see what happens.
“And it’s just one match,’ he adds, cracking a big grin. “That’s what I tell them…we’ve just got to be better than this team one time. I don’t care about the rest. They can beat us nine other times and I don’t care. We just have to beat them one time.”
This time!
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