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Miami East volleyball to play for D-III championship

Volleyball team is playing in its first trip to state.

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By Debbie Juniewicz, Contributing Writer 10:41 PM Thursday, November 10, 2011

FAIRBORN — It was business as usual for the Miami East Vikings.

In their first trip to the state tournament, the Vikings (28-1) beat state tournament veteran Adena, 25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-22, in the Division III state volleyball semifinals at the Nutter Center on Thursday. The Warriors were state runners-up in 2009 and were making their eighth state appearance, fourth in the past seven seasons.

“Adena’s volleyball tradition is pretty rich so we knew they weren’t going to come in rattled,” Miami East coach John Cash said. “We couldn’t either.”

The Vikings’ confidence appeared to match that of the Warriors as the first-time state qualifiers jumped out to a two-set lead. But Adena fought back while Miami East struggled in the third set.

“We started getting a little lazy in the third set, like we thought they were going to hand it over to us,” junior setter/right-side hitter Abby Cash said. “We needed to be more aggressive.”

The Vikings came out firing in the fourth set. An ace by libero Allison Morrett gave Miami East a 14-8 lead, but Adena rallied and it was all knotted, 22-22, late.

“It comes down to mental toughness, that’s what the state semis are all about, grunting it out,” Cash said.

Miami East junior middle hitter Leah Dunivan slammed in the point that made it 23-22, and the Vikings closed the match on a pair of Warrior errors. Dunivan led the Vikings with 12 kills.

“Leah was a stud for us today,” Cash said. “We saw that they were only putting up a single block on her, so I told our setters to get her the ball every chance they get.”

Miami East will face another state veteran team in Gilmour Academy (26-2) in the D-III final Saturday at 11 a.m. The Lancers, who settled for runner-up in 2008 and 2010, topped Columbus Ready 25-22, 25-18, 25-22 in the semifinals.

Saturday’s finals in Divisions II, III:

D-II: Alter vs. Bishop Hartley, 1 p.m.

D-III: Miami East vs. Gilmour Academy, 11 a.m.

Where: Wright State’s Ervin J. Nutter Center

Cost: $9

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