October 24, 2001

Old Fort goes down to Hopewell-Loudon

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

OLD FORT -- After holding Old Fort at bay in the first game Tuesday of the Division IV district semifinal at Old Fort, four-time defending state champion Hopewell-Loudon saw the Stockaders refuse to fold in the second.

One moment H-L would grab a lead; the next, Old Fort would either tie it up or inch ahead.

But after the Stockaders slipped ahead 10-9 off an ace from Brittany Molyet and a hitting error from H-L's Lauren Kelbley, the Chieftains regrouped to pull out the victory and earn the right to play for the district title this Saturday at Millbury Lake against Northwood.

"Crunch time; you do it or you lose," Hopewell-Loudon coach Dave Reinhart said following his team's 15-8, 15-10 win. "When you come down to it, they did it at crunch time."

Not that it came easily, though, he added.

"In that last game, we didn't have a lot of mistakes. It was just that Old Fort played well," Reinhart said. "It's good to get tested.

"Either you pass the ball and put it away or you don't," he said. "We made some mistakes, but actually, I thought we played better in the second game, as far as serving goes, but Old Fort just played a lot better. They just didn't make many mistakes."

But the ones they did make came at the worst possible times.

After the Stockaders went up 10-9 in the second game, Kelbley smacked a kill to give H-L the serve and a kill from Susie Norris and an ace from Kelbley put the Chieftains on top 11-10.

The serve went back and forth from there, with H-L edging out 12-10 on another of Norris' 19 kills. It stayed like that until Fry was called for being in the net to give the serve back to Hopewell-Loudon.

A hitting error by Old Fort's Breena McCool, a kill from Kelbley, who also had 19 for H-L, and one of Norris' two aces on the night gave the Chieftains the game and the match.

Too many mental and physical errors just couldn't be overcome during that stretch, according to Hoover.

"We didn't pass the ball very well in that rotation. We passed the ball off the net so we didn't really have as many choices for setting the ball. I think that was probably the differences there."

Norris and Kelbley were also the difference, she said.

"You're not going to stop Norris and Kelbley, they're just too big, they block, they hit over you," she said. "You just have to guess where the ball's going to go, you have to be in the right spot at the right time to stop them.

"We did well against their other hitters and we did a better job in the second game of keeping them out of their offense and we did a much better job serving and we hit the ball pretty well," Hoover said. "I'm pleased with our effort."

It was a well-balanced effort, and Fry was a big part of it, according to Hoover, by smashing six kills and serving up five points for the Stockaders (17-7).

"She really stepped up, we need her to do that next year," Hoover said. "She's only a sophomore, but she's got the ability to come in and take over a game if she has a mind to do it."

McCool (point) also drilled six kills, Molyet handed out 23 assists while registering four points and two kills, Liz Goodman pounded six kills and three blocks, Whitney Magers had four points and two kills and Kara Kohlenberg ended with two points and a kill.

But it just wasn't enough to stop the 23-1 Chieftains.

Emily Clouse (ace, kill) passed out 40 assists and served up seven points while Kelbley (ace), Norris and Brandy Arbogast (2 kills) all tallied five points, Staci Jones (ace) had four points, Briana Popenberg slapped two kills, Katie Wolph tallied two points and Ashley Brose and Megan Dandurand both had a point.

And when Old Fort did get its chances on offense, H-L seldom let them get in a groove. Norris came up with 20 of the Chieftains' 80 digs in the match, while Wolph added 16, Popenberg had 14, Brose finished with eight, Jones tallied seven and Clouse and Dandurand each registered four.

"The great thing about this team is I can keep utilizing other kids," Reinhart said. "We're just glad to get through this one. Now we'll be ready to step on to whoever we have to play. It'll be another big match."