Volleyball: Highland depth proves vital against Medina

GRANGER TWP. — Rivals Samantha Ross and Kate Schellenberger ripped kill after kill from the left side, living up to their billing as two of the elite hitters in the Suburban League National Conference. Madi Morgan, Allison Stanik and Emeri Gausman, however, wound up being the difference for the Highland volleyball team in its Medina County match against Medina. Morgan fired a career-high 11 kills, Stanik had five of her seven kills in the fourth set and Gausman posted six kills and a season-best seven blocks, powering the Hornets to a 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 25-20 win over the Bees on Tuesday night. "Emeri's blocking was awesome, Madi chose very smart at the net and Allison was really aggressive swinging," Highland sophomore Ross said. "They were the biggest factor in getting us out of ruts that we fell into. "We got frantic in the third set when we needed to stay calm. In the fourth, we didn't play those mental games and everyone had a lot of fun." Ross finished with a match-high 17 kills and 15 digs for Highland (10-4, 8-1), which remained in a first-place tie with Wadsworth with five contests to play. Libero Alaina Weingart made 21 digs and had four aces, and Gigi Shank added eight kills. Emma Tramonte led all players with 26 assists and Hornets teammate Payton Hrics had 19. Gianna Mutch chipped in five kills and three rejections. "We connect really well off the court, which helps our chemistry on it," right side hitter Stanik said. "We're all focusing on team wins, and that makes it easy to celebrate each other's successes." Schellenberger ripped 15 kills with four aces for Medina (9-6, 4-5), while fellow sophomore Maddison Tucker tied her career best with 11 kills and did not commit an error. Lauren Sherman had 12 of her 22 assists in the final two sets. Sophomore Eva Myers stuffed the stat sheet with seven kills, 19 assists, two blocks and two aces, and the Bees received five kills and three blocks from another 10th-grader, Paige Armstrong. "We've been working so hard on our mindset, going through the motions with our thought process," said Tucker, who added three blocks. "If I can visualize it, I know I can do it on the court. "Tonight, we knew we had to slow them down, get them out of system, and funnel to our defense." The increased activity in the middle was a fun bonus for Morgan, Gausman, Mutch, Tucker and the fans. Their athletic prowess led to numerous direct back-and-forth rallies. Also entertaining was the chess match between coaches Laura Merk of Highland and Jason Schellenberger of Medina, friends who reveled in the competition. "We knew this was a big match in the county, and I'm really proud of us not getting too psyched up that it affected our play," Morgan said. "We just did our thing and trusted our hitting." After two relatively uninteresting sets, the action amped up in the third when Kate Schellenberger fired two kills and three aces to put the Bees ahead 10-6 on their way to a decisive win. The fourth was more of the same as Medina seized a 9-4 lead on Sarah Wilson's second kill of the set, then pushed to 17-14. "When we clean up little errors, we can play very, very well," coach Schellenberger said. "But with young hitters across the board, it's all part of the growth process." Shank answered with a kill and an ace before Highland went ahead at 18-17 on a spirit-crushing kill. Morgan, who tortured the Bees with placement all evening, backwards bumped the ball over the net on a third hit that landed inside the 10-foot line. The eight-point service run also included Stanik delivering a sharp-angle kill and another Shank ace that pushed the Hornets to the brink at 22-17. Mutch ended it with a block/kill, completing Highland's home-and-home season sweep of Medina. "We obviously needed this win to keep pace with Wadsworth," Merk said. "It wasn't easy, though. Medina was very tough." Contact Brian Dulik at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on X.