High school volleyball: Brunswick rallies to beat Medina, force tie atop GCC

BRUNSWICK — Never underestimate the heart of a champion. Especially when the team is the two-time defending Greater Cleveland Conference champion. All-Ohio libero Emerson Futchko fired six aces and made 27 digs, Sara Krizsa had 18 kills and Camryn Matus had 36 assists Thursday night as the Brunswick volleyball team rallied for an 11-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-19, 15-9 victory over Medina. The Blue Devils (10-9, 8-1) were swept by the conference-leading Bees (16-3, 8-1) in their first meeting of the season, but won the rematch and prevented Medina from clinching the outright GCC championship. "I wanted this win so bad," said Futchko, a four-year starter. "Ever since they beat us last month, I kept telling myself, 'I will not lose to Medina the last time I ever play them.' "This is always our biggest match of the season and they have a great team, so this was really special to all of us." Kira Holland had a match-high 23 kills and fellow senior Makenzie Schellenberger collected 34 assists, five kills and three aces for the Bees, who had their school-record winning streak snapped at 13 matches. As a result, the title will be decided in the final GCC match of the season for both Medina County squads. Each is assured of at least a co-championship if they win. Brunswick travels to Euclid, which is 0-9 in the league, on Tuesday. One evening later, the Bees host Strongsville, a winner in three of its eight GCC matches to date. "We know that we have to beat Strongsville. Losing is not an option," said Medina senior outside hitter Anslie Krogh, who had eight kills. "We will be 100% on for that game." The Blue Devils not only were in a must-win situation to keep their title hopes alive, they lost senior setter and serving specialist Mackenzie Ritter to a concussion Wednesday in practice. Futchko led the way with 15 service points and junior Nicole Colombo came through with 11. Freshman Emerson Sheets dished out nine assists in her varsity debut and fought off a set point in the third with a push-kill, while junior Emily Luangraj had four kills and three aces. Junior Julia Jozefov had 12 kills and led all players with six blocks, junior Bella DeBarr had 11 kills and senior Elise Krivanek delivered the match-winning kill — her seventh of the match and third over the final two sets — for Brunswick. "We've been strategizing all year for this match, and we knew we could do it," Krivanek said. "Once we got to the fifth set, we had so much momentum and were ready to finish it. Putting that last ball down on a perfect set from Cam was the highlight of my high school career." Medina also received three kills, three blocks and three aces from Emily Piehler, four rejections from Maddy Kessler, six kills from Aubrey Miranda and three kills in the fourth set from Annalise Bell. The Bees remain one GCC win away from capturing the third league crown in school history. "We knew this would be a very tough match and our girls never stopped fighting," Bees coach Jason Schellenberger said. "As I told them in the locker room, tonight was a nice gut-check because this is the type of intensity we will see in the tournament. "Now we'll go back to practice tomorrow and get right to focusing on Strongsville." Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on Twitter.