Tipp’s Abby Mader hammers a kill between the block attempts of two Hoban players during Friday’s straight-set Red Devils win over the #1-ranked Division III team in the state. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie Wright Daniel and Sonny Fulks)
Unexpected to the third power, the Tipp Red Devils stunned #1-ranked Archbishop Hoban in straight sets Friday to shock the Ohio volleyball community and bring hope for a state title to within a day and overnight’s reach.
Springfield, OH – Sinatra sang about it. Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant…the lyrics to his once-popular tune, High Hopes, twenty years before the Tipp volleyball team’s parents were even born.
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But Friday morning at Wittenberg University the wizard, Howard Garcia, and his volleyball team took another step in making that tune their tournament anthem as they, indeed, knocked off another rubber tree plant, the state’s #1-ranked Akron Hoban (MaxPreps coaches poll), in straight sets…25-19, 25-20, and 25-15…the vaunted Knights’ first loss since losing 3-2 to Olentangy Orange back on September 20th.
Stunning?
It hardly describes it.
Silencing? You could have heard a pin drop in the Hoban crowd throughout the inevitable third and final set.
Humbling?
Twenty minutes before the match, up in row twenty, a Hobanite described the challenge to meeting Tipp in the state tournament semi-final round as akin to playing Don Quixote. Windmill, anyone?
Twenty minutes after the match, in the hallway outside the celebration of Tipp players, coaches, players and parents, a Red Devil administrator proclaimed the obvious. “No one, anywhere, expected this. Especially people in Akron.”
Vindication?
Tipp coach Howard Garcia celebrates match point, and the moment Friday, as his Red Devils took out the #1-ranked Akron Hoban Knights.
“Not really,” said the wizard (Garcia), minutes after the match in the sparsely-attended post-game presser that the Hoban staff completely blew off.
“No one expected this, but did I not tell you earlier in the week that all we had to do was beat them once? Nine out of ten? I don’t care. But today…I don’t know if I’ve ever had a volleyball team play as well as my team played here today.”
And how did they do it?
“Well, we had three players who stood out on a day when everyone did something to contribute,” he added. “Our libero (Faith Siefring) is the best in the state of Ohio. I’m not afraid to say it. And Savannah Clawson and Abby Mader (combined for 27 kills) were terrific.
“And you know how I tell you that our offense is our best defense? Well today, our defense was superior in every phase. And Faith Siefring justified what I just said about her. She did everything you could have asked for a libero to do today. And as soon as we stopped their #7 (Samantha Dehrmann) and #11 (Kathleen Jones), what did they do? Rolling and tipping…and volleyball is not a tipping war.”
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#1’s aren’t prone to nerves, but they’re human just the same, and Tipp came out in set one with an obvious advantage in calm and confidence. They played well from the start, and played with an energy that Garcia has described in the past as being good while it lasts.
“The best libero in the state” eyes an incoming dig opportunity during the second set of Friday’s win in the Div. III semi-final.
“We have a tendency in our league to take our foot off the gas in the third set because we don’t get challenged,” he said in early October.
Friday, Tipp had every component of a home-court advantage…the energy, a packed, raucous crowd, and surgeon-like precision from Clawson and Mader with five kills each in the first set.
“They live twenty miles from here,” a member of the Hoban student section lamented. “No wonder they have a thousand fans here. I want to talk to the OHSAA.”
It was never a blowout, or a runaway, and in fact the longest run of the set for Tipp was a mere four points. But it was enough, an average of three points better throughout until a spurt at the end – one of those four-point runs – finished off a tidy 25-19 Tipp win.
Set two began as a carbon copy.
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“It was incredible,” Savannah Clawson would claim later. “How we came out and just worked together like that. All of our hard work up to this point really showed today.”
Tipp’s Savannah Clawson tallies one her 16 kills for the match during Friday’s semi-final win over Hoban.
And again, Tipp came out to a confident start, Mader and Clawson would amass five kills each, Faith Siefring would get her hands on everything west of Limestone Street, and the support cast – Courtney Post, Livia Hiser, Brianna Morris, Lexi Luginbuhl, Morgan Sessions – blended perfectly with their court spacing, communication, and awareness of each other.
They were so fluid that even their mistakes were immediately retrievable on the scoreboard. The largest Hoban lead of the set was two points, and Tipp brushed that off like memories of the Mum Festival. Leading by a single point at the end, Clawson, Luginbuhl and Mader accounted for six of the last seven points to post a 25-20 win.
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“We’re better than this,” someone shouted from the crowd, doing their best to resurrect the spirits and confidence of Hoban as they came out for the third set. But words are easy, even though the Knights scored the first two points in the set. And again…a defensive play that extended Tipp’s first point got the juices flowing with the offense. Trading points through the first few serves, Tipp suddenly broke out at 7-5 and never looked back…except at those rubber tree plants!
Hoban did their best to extend rallies…did their best to become more forceful and precise with kill attempts…but every time they did the Tipp defense had a Faith Siefring or a Morgan Session in the way. The score doubled to 10-5. Then to 15-7. And eventually to 20-9, and by then everyone in the gym from Summit County knew…that at least on this day, Hoban was not better than Tipp. The Knights did rally one more time to cut the deficit to 21-14, but Tipp quickly closed out the match with a 4-1 run and ended it the set, and match…25-15.
Savannah Clawson would finish with 16 kills…Abby Mader, the sophomore, finished with 11. How well did Tipp, collectively, play? Combined efficiency for kills per attempt for the match averaged 69%.
By contrast, Hoban averaged 48.5%.
“I think a lot of people thought they were going to kick our butts,” laughed Clawson, afterwards. “It wasn’t just them. So it was even cooler that we kicked theirs, really, and with the way we played. I’m so proud of my team because we’re a smaller public school. But today we really showed people who we are.”
A little bit of everyone…Courtney Post powers a point in the deciding third set.
Tipp improved to 28-0 for the year, and with a total of three lost sets out 87 played (96.5%). And while it’s true that a majority of their success can be attributed to the Miami Valley Conference, it was obvious on Friday that when it was needed, Clawson, Mader, Sessions, Siefring and company were capable of reaching back for another, higher gear.
“No doubt,” said Clawson. “For me personally I realized that there were times when I was tired, and I that I needed to figure it out – perspective – take a deep breath and pick it up a bit. Just play one point at a time, and that helped.
And is there a way to prevent a letdown following such an emotional win? How do you preserve what you had between Friday and the Saturday final against Bloom-Carroll (27-1), who knocked out Cathedral Latin in five sets in the second Division III semi-final?
“We have to stay in the mindset,” Clawson said. “We don’t have it already. It’s not guaranteed. Just getting some touches and focus on the team on the other side.”
Faces in the crowd…”It was so cool to see how many people were here to support us.” – Savannah Clawson
What they did this week for Hoban…sharpen some skills, mental and physical, and try not to get anyone hurt overnight.
And by all means…bring that crowd again.
“We actually cancelled school today,” laughed Clawson. “It was overwhelming and a little intimidating, for sure, to see how many people showed up. But it was so cool to see how many people were here to support us.”
“You know,” added Howard Garcia, “Nothing really changes. What did I say on Wednesday? All we have to do is beat them once. I think a lot of people read that and believed it, because I heard about it all week.”
Guaranteed…if they win tomorrow, at the Nutter Center (Wright State), they’re going to hear about it for years.
Improbable at this point?
Nah….
Just another rubber tree plant!
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