Russia Flips Script…Beats Fort Loramie In Four On Donna’s Night

Playing with energy and like a team with a destiny, Russia avenged an earlier 4-set loss to Fort Loramie with a four-set win over its own on Tuesday.

Russia, OH – Aaron Watkins’ Russia teams have always played like a team with a destiny, largely because Watkins annually tells them so.

“I used to tell them we wanted to win a district until we did,” he said, following the Raiders’ Tuesday four-set win (11-2, 7-1 in SCL) over rival Fort Loramie (14-4, 8-1 in SCL).

“Then I would tell them we want a regional until we won that last year and made it to the Final Four.”

Now all that’s left for the sake of destiny is to win the Division VII Final Four, claim the state title, and start work on a dynasty in the manner of New Bremen, Marion Local, and St. Henry – all with multiple state titles.

And for three-and-a-half of the four sets played Tuesday, Watkins’ Raiders looked every bit like a team destined for destiny, avenging a four-set loss to Loramie on September 3 in largely the manner in which they lost in their first meeting.

They came out with more energy than Fort Loramie…served and hit aggressively.  They benefited from a huge community crowd from both schools who came not only for volleyball, but in honor of mutual friend Donna Phlipot, who is valiantly fighting lymphoma.  Hence, half the audience seemed to be wearing green T-shirts in support of her fight.  It was palpable, moving.

Loramie is ranked #2 in the state’s latest coaching poll.  Russia ranked #6.  And Loramie was fresh off a thrilling Saturday win in five sets over four-time state champion New Bremen, and took the court with bragging rights, along with the outright Shelby County Athletic Conference lead.

But Russia had more – energy, aggressiveness, confidence, and mojo – playing as if to avenge, and impress.  They crept out to a 6-4 lead, extended it 13-7 as Loramie began to find the court too short for ball they hit out of bounds.  Hitting errors would be their nemesis all night.  The Redskins fought back to 23-20, but could get no closer.  A service error by Loramie capped the win for Russia, 25-21.

It was back and forth in the second set, with hitting errors now by Russia actually benefiting Loramie, who worked its way to a 13-10 lead.  But a 4-0 run by Russia suddenly tied the score at 16, then at 18, at 22, and 23 before an aggressive Russia serve handcuffed the serve-receive of Fort Loramie, handing the Raiders a 2-0 lead in the match, 25-23.

Full house or not, it’s tough to maintain the kind of energy and emotion it takes to beat the #2 team in the state.  And in the third set Loramie benefited  from a Russia decline, if only marginal.  Again, Loramie got out to a slim lead with aggressive hitting and improved energy on defense – extending volleys until a kill found its way between Raider defenders.

“It’s tough,”  said Loramie coach Kelly Hoying, later.  “Did we have a letdown after the New Bremen win?  We had a really good practice yesterday, and we did wonder before the match.  Would it give us extra energy or would we struggle to play with our normal energy and confidence?”

And leading 11-7, Loramie watched as Russia went on a 7-3 run to tie the score at 14, then a brief Russia lead, 15-14.

But this time the hitting of Isabelle Hoying, Charleigh Albers, and better functional vollleyball helped Loramie fend off Russia.  Leading 24-22, a kill by Charleigh Albers claimed the set for Loramie, 25-22.

“We hadn’t lost at home all year,”  Aaron Watkins would afterwards say.  “And yes, there was a period there in the third set when the energy seemed to dip.”

No doubt, there was some thought given to September 3.  Some thought given to whatever destiny had been established before the season began.  Some thought to not allowing Loramie to survive a two-set deficit as the teams came back out for the fourth set.

But whatever they thought between sets…it didn’t work.  Loramie quickly shot out to a 5-0 lead.

“We had to make some big plays to get back into it,”  said Watkins.  “And I’m just so proud of my girls.”

Russia came roaring back, closing the gap to 12-10, 13-12, and finally tying the score at 13-13 – living off the energy of Celeste Borchers, Aryana Cordonnier, Hazel Francis and their fellow seniors.

A 4-0 Loramie run, taking advantage of hitting errors by Russia, gave the Redskins another lead, but only for a moment.  Russia shot back with a 4-0 run, aided by a pair of serves that hung on the top of the net before dropping harmlessly to the floor out of reach…a pair of Russia points at 18-14.

Loramie rebounded with a 6-2 run to tie, 20-20.  When they needed it most Loramie’s serve seemed to get tuned in.  But a pair of kill attempts by Loramie went long, allowing a 22-20 Russia advantage, then 24-22, and finally – what else – a service error handed Russia the match, 25-22.

Regardless of the frustration of not playing their best, the worst that Loramie realized was having to…for a time, at least…share the Shelby County League lead with Russia, each now with one loss.

“They played well,”  said Kelly Hoying.  “They played much better than they did at our gym.  I anticipated that as a coach, but I think the players were shaken by it after the first set and just didn’t get past it.  We’re still making the same hitter-setter connection errors that we made at the beginning of the year.  We talked about it in the locker room, and we shouldn’t be doing that.”

Aaron Watkins said it was the best they had played all year.

“The best,”  he emphasized.  “And it comes at a time when we’ve been getting better.  We’ve won 9 in a row now, and the challenge of playing Loramie again came at a good time.”

And Watkins knows…that no one in area Division VII has proven that they’re going to run away with things between now and the Nutter Center, in November.  So can his team maintain the level of play they showed against Fort Loramie, with Kalida and Coldwater among their eight remaining games?  Is the destiny of breaking through to state supremacy realistic?

“I give props to my sister (Allie Hafer), our JV coach,”  he began.  “She’s worked every day breaking down our serve-receive, making sure we get the contact we want, how we want the girls moving, contacting the ball…what we can do to stay in system.  She takes a lot of pride in that and I think it’s the biggest improvement we’ve made throughout the year.  That first contact.  When we are in system we’re pretty darn good.

“So, can we be this good the first week in November?  Yes, and I think we can be even better.”

But first, eight more matches before tournament play begins, and how would you handicap the rubber match should Russia and Loramie meet again?  And if they do, does any of it that happened along the way even matter?

Watkins is excitable.  He’s invested a lot of years building a program at Russia.  He’s earned the trust and respect of his fellow coaches in the area.  Tuesday’s win sent the same kind of message as Loramie’s Saturday win over New Bremen.

“Play with energy, and be aggressive,”  Watkins told his team before Tuesday’s match.

The best they had played all year.

Kelly Hoying couldn’t argue.  Those days come and they go…in volleyball.