Girls district volleyball: Wadsworth sweeps Green, advances to regionals

MAPLE HTS. — On-court trophy presentations have become commonplace for the Wadsworth volleyball team.The Grizzlies added another piece of hardware to their collection Wednesday.Lauren Decker fired 19 kills and Lilly McComas had six kills and five blocks as the Grizzlies beat Green 25-15, 25-22, 25-16 in the Division II, Northeast 8 District championship match Wednesday.Their other senior tri-captain, Rowan Kelly, posted 32 assists, five kills, four rejections and three aces in the straight-set triumph at Maple Heights' Wiley Athletic Center."A three set win in the district final, we'll take it," Wadsworth coach Allyson Wines said. "Green played extremely well and there were moments when we were under pressure tonight, but we remained pretty composed and figured it out."The Suburban League National Conference champion Grizzlies (23-1) — ranked No. 4 in the OHSVCA state poll — became the first Medina County team to reach regionals in back-to-back years since Brunswick from 2014-2016.Sophomore Quinn Macko had nine kills and junior Kameron Chapman added three kills and a pair of blocks without an error for Wadsworth, which won its 16th straight match and is two victories away from returning to the state semifinals."It's definitely different this year being able to contribute in a bigger way, but it's also very exciting working with such a great group of girls," said middle hitter Chapman, a first-year starter."Even when things get chaotic on the court, we're always able to calm each other back down and pick it back up."The Bulldogs (11-10) played almost mistake-free volleyball in the first two sets, jumping in front 7–4 in the opener and retaking the lead in the second at 21-20 on an ace by Adysen Cline.Wadsworth forced a sideout to tie the score, then pulled ahead 23-21 on two serves by senior defensive specialist Emily Snyder. She had two of her match-best four aces in the set as the Grizzlies ended it with a 5-1 run."The way Green played was different than what we expected with their attack," Snyder said. "There were some weird balls coming over and the angles weren't the easiest to read, so it took us a little while to adjust."Molly Collinsworth collected six kills, 10 assists and four blocks, Ava Scott added four kills and Riley Maurer had four kills and three blocks for the Bulldogs.Green made eight unforced errors — and tied the score 15 times — during the first two sets before franchise players Decker and Kelly took the wind out of its sails in the finale.Consecutive aces by Robert Morris recruit Decker pushed Wadsworth ahead 14-5, while Ohio University commit Kelly had 11 assists in the set. Kelly found Decker on the left outside for the match-winning kill."We did start out slow and definitely weren't playing to our full potential early on," said Decker, who also led all players with 17 digs and had two aces and two assists. "We can't let that happen down the road, but I thought we came back strong and looked like ourselves in the third set."Three sophomores also contributed for the Grizzlies in their initial district final. Natalie Maddox had an ace in the second set and two kills in the third, Ellie Wolf drilled two aces and two assists and Averie Shell had three kills.Wadsworth will face a familiar foe in the Streetsboro Regional semifinals on Oct. 30. Conference rival Twinsburg edged Painesville Riverside 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-12 in a contentious battle to begin the doubleheader.The Grizzlies won both of their regular-season matches over the Tigers."We've played them twice already this year, so it might look like it's just another game," Snyder said. "But it's not because of what we'll be playing for."Contact Brian Dulik at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on X.