NORTH ROBINSON - Colonel Crawford had to learn some tough lessons over the second half of the season.
After opening the season with a loss and proceeding to reel off 11 consecutive wins, the Eagles went 6-4 over the final 10 games falling in five sets in three of those four losses.
"On our 11-game win stretch at the beginning of the season — I wouldn't say we were cocky — but we got comfortable," sophomore Reese Redman said. "When we lost to Old Fort and Buckeye Central back-to-back, it showed us that people are coming out for us, everyone is going to give us their best game.
"We buckled down and focused in practice for every game, even if we play lesser competition, we know we need to bring it and not play down."
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By no means was eight-seed Edison lesser competition in Thursday's Division V sectional championship, and the two-seeded Eagles played as if a state title was on the line bringing the intensity from the opening whistle in an impressive 25-9, 25-14, 25-19 sweep of the Chargers.
"The inital win makes things a little bit more calm, but I was super proud of the girls tonight," Colonel Crawford coach Jaime Valentine said. "I thought they played composed and mature, that has been some growth for us because ... typically in the past anytime pressure situations come across us, we've struggled with figuring out emotions and stuff. But I thought they did a good job of handling that tonight."
After losing the opening point of the match, Colonel Crawford proceeded to go on a 9-2 run which forced Edison coach Sean Hoover into a timeout. That lead was stretched to a dozen points at 19-7 before the Chargers benefitted from an Eagles serving error and followed it with an ace of their own, but the hosts would get the ball back on an error and Sophia Gray went on to serve out the remainder of the set with a trio of aces sprinkled with a pair of Reese Redman kills.
Edison came out rejuvinated after dropping the first set taking a 4-2 lead, then again at 7-5 and 8-6 for what would be the Chargers' biggest leads of the night. Redman wasn't going to let that last long, though, with a kill and ace to tie it up before closing out the set on a 17-6 run. She finished with 11 of her game-high 20 kills in the second set alone.
"I said a few plays before it that if they send another short ball, I'm sending it right back over," Redman said, her favorite kill of the night was a free ball. "It just felt so good to get that out, I was excited ... it's so much fun playing with my teammates that get excited when you get good kills — I'm grateful for them."
Colonel Crawford trailed 3-1 early in the third before going on a 7-0 run to bring out Hoover's first timeout of the set. It paid off as Edison won the next four points and from 8-7 to 21-19, the teams traded points and mini-runs to keep the intensity high. A pair of Emmi Powers kills followed by Redman's final one gave the Eagles match-point and a poorly hit ball into the net by the Chargers sealed the win.
"We were trying to keep them out of system a little more so they had to go up and over the block versus being able to get the ball to the net and push it down the line," Hoover said. "We just didn't do that consistently enough ... they have a lot of big arms in the front and when they get the ball to them quick, it's tough for any team to get a decent block in front of them."
The Eagles had eight aces as a team led by Gray's trio in the first set, junior Saylor Holt and sophomore Olivia Moore had two apiece, Redman one. And aside from back-to-back-to-back service errors late in the second set, Colonel Crawford had an excellent serving night.
"That's one thing when you want them to serve aggressively, you're gonna have some service errors," Valentine said. "But we don't want them to be back-to-back and we had a couple rotations with back-to-back service errors. We're going to work on those things, but they served aggressively and made it a hard time for them getting into system."
Junior Alaina Parr added 12 kills, Holt had five kills and three blocks, Powers three kills and a block, Moore 22 assists, senior Lila Plesac 13 assists and a block.
"We played well in transition and we had an answer if they gave us a ball back or if they got a dig, we were able to do some great things offensively," Valentine said. "And we stayed in system most of the night, which made a huge impact."
Colonel Crawford is back in the district tournament for the second straight season, the program's first time winning consecutive sectional titles since 2011 and 2012.
"Back-to-back sectional championships with the program we had (a few) years ago ... it's giving thanks to the girls who put all the time in," Redman said, the Eagles were 2-21 in 2023. "I'm so grateful that everyone has poured everything into this program ... our four seniors, we're so proud of them, and the juniors have been through thick and thin."
Up next is four-seed Oak Harbor in a district semifinal on Tuesday, Oct. 27th at Seneca East High School with first serve at approximately 7:45 p.m.
"It's exciting ... we definitely have some goals and we're not finished yet," Valentine said. "I thought watching them tonight, they feel it too. They know there's something special with this group.
"I hope we can make a long tournament run and stay focused and play with maturity like we did tonight."
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Crawford wins back-to-back sectional titles, first time in 14 years