Tippecanoe imposed its will in the final game putting an exclamation point on their first state title with a 19-3 run to close it out.
Keeping their composure – in a good way – was a struggle for the Red Devils in the final moments.
Brianna Morris, who ended the match with 50 assists and five aces, fought back a wide smile through the last few points making sure to keep focused on the task at hand.
“We were up two sets and we knew we had to finish,” Morris said. “We hit that third-set curse and we had to push past it.”
While the third-set curse might be very real for the Red Devils, their competitors don’t see it. It was just the fourth set the team lost all season, besting 25 of their opponents 3-0 in a 29-0 season.
“The team is talented,” Tippecanoe coach Howard Garcia said. “And because they are talented, they can relax a little bit. That curse came, but it wasn’t a bad curse, it was 26-24. But in the fourth set we carried that momentum.”
Morris got it started. Coming out of a timeout with a 13-8 lead, an ace helped keep control and the Red Devil stayed hot.
“Like Coach Howie says, little bad, big square,” Morris said.
Savannah Clawson, a first team All-Ohio selection, had 17 kills and 27 digs for Tippecanoe, but she felt the target on her number all game long.
Still, though, in Game 4 she closed it out with the final two kills.
“I struggled a bit,” Clawson said. “They were really shutting me down so it was good to get those kills at the end.”
Courtney Post had nine kills and three blocks and Abby Mader had 20 kills and 14 digs, as the third-team all-Ohio selections played their part in bringing the first state volleyball title home to Tipp City.
The Red Devils were competing in their fourth state tournament and first state title game since 1992. They lost to Akron Hoban in the state final that season.
“I feel like we were in this game for something bigger,” senior Kaylee Armstrong said. “The teams who didn’t get here before us. We did this for them. I am so happy to be here for this.”
For Bloom-Carroll, it was the fourth-consecutive four-set match – including one just 24 hours before it had to face off against Tipp.
That, combined with an opponent that wouldn’t quit, was just too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.
“We gutted out that third set,” Bloom-Carroll coach Kyle McFerin said. “It seemed like once we got into that fourth game the wheels fell off. And when you get down to a team like that you start thinking about things that you shouldn’t. You start thinking about how it’s the last time we are going to play together.”
Bloom-Carroll had to fight off Tipp in the third set just as hard. The Bulldogs got the lead to 18-12, but Tippecanoe chipped away time after time, tying it at 22, 23 and 24, but never claiming a third-set lead.
But as it turned out, they didn’t need the third set at all.
The Red Devils shots and passes were as crisp as ever as they closed out the most important fourth game of their lives.
“It’s amazing to see us get this far after last year,” Morgan Sessions said. “For us to come here and work together. We did this for the community.”
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