The Flames came in fearless against a higher seeded New London who was the reigning district champion.
NEW WASHINGTON - Mansfield Christian coach Barbara McLeary might still be in shock.
After seeing her five-seeded Flames win the first two sets against No. 3 New London in Wednesday's Division VI sectional championship, they trailed big in the third and everyone in the gym figured a fourth set was inevitable.
"You gotta get that energy back," McLeary said. "We came out flat and I said to them — get this energy back — because the momentum had shifted, so we needed to bring it back."
New London led 8-3 early and stretched it to 16-8 before the Flames started chipping away slowly. Pulling within six at 19-13 forced the Wildcats into a timeout, and next thing you know the teams were knotted at 21 apiece. Five points later, Mansfield Christian steals away the set for the sweep and advanced to a district semifinal with Buckeye Central next week at Shelby High School.
"We've been in that situation where we won the first two then we lost third 25-6," McLeary said. "But those serves Kenzie (Webb) had, and Bailee (Nelson) was back there serving ... it just begins to add up. They knew they had to clean things up out there, so it was good.
"I was really surprised, but it's wonderful. I'm just so happy, this is two years in a row we've won sectionals."
As outstanding as Mansfield Christian's serving was, it was defense that set the Flames up for success throughout the match.
"A lot of it was our back row," McLeary said. "They were reading the line shots, covering back there ... our defense really helped step things up and get them excited. And our blocking, I preached to them tonight that blocking is the first line of defense, you just have to be there. And when we blocked their big (Pailee Wilson) a few times, that was great."
On the other side of the court, it was a devastating outcome for reigning district champion New London.
"We just struggled to get our offense in a good position to get good swings on the ball, and then when we were hitting out of system, we weren't keeping it in play," Wildcats coach Sarah Thomas said. "And we train that — all day, every day — train out of system, it just wasn't falling for us today. That wasn't our best, and it stinks to go out on when you know you haven't played your best."
Coming off the program's first district title since 1994, Thomas acknowledged there was some inherent pressure coming into the tournament.
"It's hard to follow up that season we had last year," she said. "Not a whole lot of change in our team, but you gotta live up to that pressure a little bit. We had a little bit of inexperience coming in, even with a lot of the same players, just playing in different roles. We just didn't come out and play our best today, and when you're in the tournament — we know as much as anybody — as the underdog, you come in with that chip on your shoulder.
"That gives you that fire you need. We were feeling the pressure and they were feeling that fire, it just didn't work for us tonight."
And with that loss came the end of the careers of a special group of seven seniors who will forever have their names etched in New London lore after last season's regional run.
"My seniors have been the heart of this team for the last four years, it just leaves a sour taste in your mouth when you know you just didn't play your best," Thomas said. "But that doesn't take away what they've done for our program the last four years.
"They've put us back on the map as a volleyball school and I'm just grateful they had the opportunity to play together the last four years and do what they've done for the sport of volleyball at New London."
Mansfield Christian now hopes to make some history of its own and that would start with avenging an earlier season loss to Buckeye Central on Tuesday at Shelby High School.
"We played them at home and lost in three," McLeary said. "But we'll clean up some things and see what we can do."
[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: OHSAA Volleyball: Mansfield Christian upsets New London in sectionals
Category: General Sports
