WESTERVILLE – The Delaware Christian girls volleyball team ran into a buzz saw and fell to Newark Catholic in three sets in a Division IV district final Saturday at Worthington Christian Middle School.
The third-seeded Green Wave knocked off the top-seeded Eagles 25-19, 25-17, 26-24 to capture a district championship.
“We knew we were going to run into a buzz saw here,” DCS coach Jackie Boggs said. “But we competed well. I thought we played a lot better in Game 3. We figured out what was going on.”
Lyssi Snouffer had 12 kills and 13 digs to lead the Eagles (24-2), who have been district runner-up two of the last three years after winning a title in 2016.
Snouffer finishes her career with 1,548 kills and 1,501 digs – both school records. She was MOCAL player of the year and first-team All-District all four years and is District Player of the Year this season.
Brynn Peddicord had 12 kills and 11 digs and Shannon Keck added six blocks and six kills to lead Newark Catholic in the win.
“Delaware Christian is a phenomenal program,” Newark Catholic coach Caileigh Hughes said. “We knew we had to step it up. So, this week, all we did was run a fast offense and got our setter (Nikki Langenbrunner) jump-setting more and tried to bring out something new that they haven’t seen to see if we could throw them off.”
The Green Wave, who were in Division III each of the last four years, won their first district title since 2015 and first in Division IV since 2014. They were district runner-up in Division III last season.
“It all started at the beginning of the summer,” Hughes said. “I had the most kids we’ve ever had at summer conditioning. They bought in and have given their hearts and their souls and we played a tough schedule against a lot of D-I and D-II schools. They trusted the process and came together as a team.”
Langenbrunner had 24 assists and Kelly Keck had three aces to lead the Green Wave (17-6), who served up eight as a team.
“They served well and they had that big blocker – we don’t face 6-3 girls every day,” Boggs said. “They just play such a tough schedule. I don’t think they play any D-IV teams. I thought we battled and we played pretty good – we just got beat.”
Erin Bauslaugh had 12 assists and Grace Williams had nine, Emma Rindfuss had 10 digs and Sloane Dellipoala had seven digs for DCS, which had won its previous nine games.
There were plenty of accolades for the Eagles, who had their best season in school history. Dellipoala was first-team All-MOCAL and all-district, Allison Grover was first team all-league and second-team all-district and Bauslaugh was honorable mentional all-league and all-district.
“It was a good season,” said Boggs, who was league and district coach of the year. “Sloane had a banner year. She and Alli and Abbi (Maurer) – I thought they played really well today. They’re going to be hard to replace.”
Newark Catholic faces Portsmouth Notre Dame in a regional semifinal Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Bloom-Carroll.
