Riders take full advantage of hurtin' Lady Knights
He also knew he would have to do it without lanky hitter Brittleigh Macaulay, who was out due to surgery.
But he didn’t expect to have to do it without senior Paiten Strother, the heart and soul of his team.
However, when Strother sprained her ankle in practice, she too was delegated to the bench, watching the game in street clothes, and it paved the way for an easy 25-8, 25-12, 25-23 victory for the Red Riders.
“Four hundred kills,” said West Holmes coach Jim Park of the missing duo. “That’s 400 kills for the year we were missing tonight. And (Paiten) is our best passer and best athlete.”
Strother actually went out and tried to do some jogging, but Park said it was obvious pretty early on that she wasn’t going to be participating. With nothing really on the line for the Lady Knights in the contest, he said he would rather have her rest the ankle and make sure she is ready to go when it really matters.
That said, Park wanted to see how other kids would step up and perform under the pressure of laying a quality team on the road.
“Other kids have to step up and play if we want to be competitive, and if they don’t we aren’t going to be competitive against a team like this,” said Park. “And we weren’t competitive until the last game. We didn’t handle adversity very well in the first two games, and in game three we did and played pretty well. We could have rolled over and died and didn’t, and we dug a lot of balls in that game three and that was good.
“But in this situation, kids can’t afford to play normal. They have to step up, and we didn’t.”
Orrville did everything they wanted to and more in the opening game, which showed why they are atop the OCC standings.
The good times continued to roll in game two, and they looked like a good bet to roll the Lady Knights in three games.
However, West Holmes showed some moxie in game three, and took Orrville right to the brink before falling by a deuce.
Orrville coach Whitney Dalessandro said that she was extremely pleased with the first two contests in which her team played lights out.
“I told the girls that no matter what is going on on the other side of the court, we need to stay focused, no matter if they are down two players or four players,” said Dalessandro. “We needed to play our game, especially when it comes to tournament games. We need to work hard, play as a team and do the things we do well no matter who the opponent is.”
They certainly did that in games one and two.
As for game three, she was a little frustrated that her team lost some of that mental sharpness, and began making what she called “stupid mistakes.”
“That was frustrating,” said Dalessandro. “Every time we touch the ball we need to be focused. We have gotten a lot better at that since the beginning of the year, and it kind of showed tonight for the most part.”
The win improved Orrville’s record to 17-3 on the season and 11-2 in the OCC. The Riders stay in a tie atop the OCC with Madison and can clinch a share of the crown with a win over Wooster on Thursday. West Holmes dipped to 15-6, 8-5.
The Red Riders have not won the OCC title since 2004, so it has been a while since they have ruled the roost.
A win would be a nice feather in the cap of a team with great expectations for the rest of the year.
“It’s always a goal,” said Dalessandro of the OCC title. “It’s never pressed, because we take one game at a time, but it would be nice.”