Girls sectional volleyball: Open Door sweeps its opener over Bloomfield; Lake Ridge falls in 4 to Rittman

ELYRIA — "See You in November" might be the battle cry of Open Door's volleyball team this year and if the results from Thursday are any indication, the Patriots just might still be playing in November.Open Door, now 19-4 and the No. 3 seed in the Division VII sectional tournament, took care of business by easily sweeping past No. 22 seed Bloomfield, 25-10, 25-10, 25-8, in the opening round of the tournament on the Patriot's floor. Bloomfield finished its season at 6-16.No. 16 seed Lake Ridge (3-12) didn't fare as well, dropping a three-set match to No. 12 Rittman (10-12) in the second game of the night, 25-17, 25-14, 25-6. Open Door and Rittman will face off next Tuesday at a sight to be determined."Our goal is November," said senior middle hitter Hannah Szunyogh. "I think we get to state.""We've fallen a little short the past couple of years," said Open Door coach Veronica Victor. "They've made it — not their life's work but their mission to supersede what we've done in the past and we only look at one game at a time and not look forward until this one is done."Szunyogh led a bevy of hard hitters with 13 kills. Junior Paige Pachinger had 12 and sophomore Taylor Giesbrecht 10."We really work on those," said Szunyogh. "It's a big thing in practice, especially with me as a middle. Timing is really important and there's so many components to it. I give all the credit to Ellie (senior setter Elliana Pruitt). I wouldn't be able to hit if she didn't have these great sets.""We went in focused, one game at a time," said Pruitt. "We take one match at a time. We don't overlook any team. That was our goal to scare the other team. Practice. We go hard at practice. We don't take anything lightly. There's nothing to joke. We take everything serious. This could be our last game and so there's no messing around."That included freshman Briella Bendik. All Bendik did was go on a 12-point run from the service line that included a half-dozen aces to push Open Door's lead to 15-3 in the opening set. Bendik, daughter of one-time Miss Volleyball Jessy Verhoff did a good job helping Pruitt with the setting too. By the end of the match, Bendik piled up nine aces and 11 assists. Pruitt had 14 assists and nine aces. In all, Open Door's servers finished with an amazing 30 aces."Her and Bekah (Pachinger) getting some playing time for us did very well," said Victor of her two freshmen players. "We're trying to prep for next year — not that we're talking about next year yet. It's nice to get them both some court time.""She's incredible," said Pruitt of Bendik. "I'm so impressed by her, I can't wait to see her next year without me and have her run the team. She's amazing.""That's our first line of offense," said Victor when asked about the aces. "If we can get – not necessarily just (Thursday) as ace -- but if we can get to where we get a free ball or a down ball, that's a win knowing that we have the hitters that we do, that we'll be able to put a free ball or a down ball and put it away."While the setters and servers were impressive, Open Door coach Veronica Victor was quick to spread the praise around. Junior libero Sammy Comer played a key role on serve-receive and digging."That starts with the pass," she said when asked about her setters. "Obviously serve-receive and defense and even free-ball passing makes it easier for those setters to deliver the ball to the hitters."Lake Ridge, with just two seniors and one junior on the roster, couldn't match Rittman's tall front line. Rittman controlled all three sets although Lake Ridge kept it interesting early in the first two sets. Sophomore Lena Foltin and freshmen Isadora Lianos Churby and Charlie Wheeler played well. Senior Zaya Battur bowed out with some nice plays as well."I'm proud," said Lake Ridge coach Taylor Small. "I told them it's going to be a strong team, going to be taller but to see them fight like that shows the vigor this team has coming up. It was hard to defend but I think my girls pushed themselvs hard enough to show what we can be in the future and I'm excited and proud of them for that."Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.