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Fenwick girls volleyball gives away advantage to Miami East

Vikings battle back against Fenwick  to nail state berth.

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer 11:50 PM Saturday, November 5, 2011

KETTERING — Casstown Miami East High School used its toughness to win Saturday’s Division III regional championship volleyball match over Fenwick.

Down big on two separate occasions, the top-ranked Vikings battled back to win each time. Miami East rode that momentum to a convincing 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 win.

“Mental toughness was the difference, I think,” said Vikings coach John Cash.

Fenwick (17-10) grabbed a 20-16 lead in the opening set, thanks to a kill by Falcon senior Jackie Purcell, but East (22-1) responded with a 9-1 scoring run to pull out the win. Purcell led everyone with 10 kills.

Again in the second set, Fenwick jumped in front by a 17-10 margin, this time off a quick hitter by senior Kristin Thompson. East came back to score 15 of the next 20 points to go up 2-0 on the defending state champs. .

Abby Cash led East with nine kills and a service ace, Angie Mack added seven kills and an ace and Kelsey Vanschure came up with a block and five kills, including the game-winner in the deciding third set.

Fenwick coach Yoon Ha said his young team couldn’t rally after losing the leads in the first two games: “We are an emotional team, and when we lost those leads, it got hard to stop the bleeding.”

East plays either Frankfort Adena or Carroll Bloom-Carroll in the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Thursday at Wright State.

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