Cardinal’s volleyball team swept Kidron Central Catholic in a Division VII district championship game on Thursday.
With the 25-20, 25-20, 25-22 win, the Huskies won their first district title since the late 1990s and claimed the school’s first district title in any sport in 20 years.
“We’ve been kind of building for this all year,” said Cardinal coach Michael Chaffe. “We got off to a slow start—we were 1-4 after a couple of tri-matches—and we were kind of feeling our way through some things and then we hit our stride.”
Chaffe credited his team’s schedule for helping the Huskies find their way.
“Playing in the (Chagrin Valley Conference), two things were very important to us,” Chaffe said. “First, we played a very competitive schedule. You play teams like Berkshire, Kirtland, and Crestwood and you’ve got six matches against powerhouses. The other thing is we have really competitive practices because we can go six on six and be pretty competitive. That’s not always the case with small schools.”
Cardinal really hit its stride in the middle of the season.
Back-to-back losses to Crestwood (3-1) and Berkshire (3-2) left the Huskies at 9-9 but those competitive matches lit a spark under the Huskies.
Cardinal has won six of its last seven games with the lone loss a five-set affair with Kirtland.
“We went five with Berkshire and five with Kirtland and that kind of prepared us for the pace of the game we played against Kidron,” Chaffe said.
The Huskies got off to a great start against Kidron but played from behind in the second set.
“Our defense was really good,” Chaffe said. “The first two or three plays, each team probably touched the ball 10 times. There were some long rallies. I thought we were going to be there a long time.”
Trailing 22-18 in the third set, Lizzy Lucariello recorded a block that changed the momentum of the set and the Huskies rallied for the match-clinching victory.
“We did a good job of not giving up anything,” Chaffe said. “Our defense really stepped up and we had a pretty good serving night.”
With the win, the Huskies advanced to the regional semifinals where they’ll play Wellsville, a 3-1 winner over Cuyahoga Heights in another district championship match.
“They have a really good middle,” Chaffe said. “I feel like it’s going to be a very competitive match. The way we’re playing right now, we’re not hurting ourselves and we’re playing really consistent. We’re playing confident and having fun. The kids have worked very hard to get to this point. It’s nice to see the return on the investment.”
