High school volleyball: Allison Salazar notches 400th kill of season as Buckeye beats Fairview

YORK TWP. — Allison Salazar joined an exclusive group and made school history in the regular-season finale for the Buckeye volleyball team. The Cleveland State recruit blasted a match-high 26 kills as the Bucks beat Fairview 25-14, 25-20, 25-18 in Great Lakes Conference East Division action Saturday, becoming the eighth player in Medina County history with 400 kills in a season. After reaching her milestone in the second set, Salazar fired 11 kills in the third and broke the Buckeye record held by former NCAA Division I middle hitter Marah Farage. She ended the afternoon with 413 kills, surpassing Farage's total of 406 in 2009. "This is unreal and so cool," Salazar said. "To have more kills in a season than Marah, I'm just so excited." The 6-foot-3 Farage, who played two years for Ohio University and two years for Duquesne, also established her school mark as a senior. Current Bucks coach Kara Joyce was her setter and had a county-record 842 assists the same season. "It's exciting because Alli is probably comparable to Marah with her offense," Joyce said. "I'm really proud of her for breaking such an important record, and I know she's not finished yet." Salazar, a 5-10 outside hitter, is on the verge of another huge accomplishment with 989 career kills. She would join Farage, Highland's Alayna Tessena, Medina's Ally Peters and Wadsworth's Kacie Evans and Jodi Johnson with 1,000. As if that wasn't enough, Salazar made 11 digs against the Warriors to give her 251 and her first 250-kill, 250-dig season. The last Buckeye player to do so was Gazette MVP Samantha Mueller in 2010. "I love playing with Alli," senior defensive specialist Mallory Kaczmarski said. "Every time she swings, it's just insane. That's the only word for it." Kaczmarski served eight points and four aces for the Bucks (11-11, 6-4), who shared third place in the GLC East Division with Lakewood. They will enter the Division II tournament with season-long winning streaks of five matches and 14 sets. Buckeye junior Paige Knittel, who posted her 1,000th career assist last weekend, was terrific with 35 assists, nine points and nine digs. Sophomore Emma Bostic added five kills and three blocks, and junior Sydney Swank had nine kills without an error. Sophomore Haiden Morrison scored a team-high 15 points with 11 digs, three aces and three assists, locking down the back row with Salazar, Kaczmarski and Nico Anzevino. "There were some tough losses earlier in the year, but we found a way to bounce back because we have big dreams," Kaczmarski said. A laughing Salazar chimed in, "My freshman year, we played Gilmour for the district championship. We want a rematch." Junior Kennedy Crandall had nine kills and freshman Brooke Schmidt had seven kills and three blocks for Fairview (3-19, 2-8), which will move to the Chagrin Valley Conference in two weeks. Freshman Chloe King collected 20 assists, three kills and three aces. "We had a lot of injuries and illnesses, but this group has finally realized its potential," Joyce said. "The last five matches, this is the team I know they can be." Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on Twitter.