The Aurora volleyball team poses around head coach Katie Cicone, who won the 100th game of her career during the Greenmen’s triumph over Revere last week.

By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

After a close loss to Strongsville to open the season, Aurora has “roared” to six consecutive wins, the last three over the cream of the crop in the Suburban League American Conference — first a tight three-setter at Highland and then two nail-biting home matches that went the distance against Revere Aug. 28 and Copley Sept. 2.

The score against the Indians was 28-26, 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-11.

“We were tested. Copley is tough as nails,” head coach Katie Cicione said. “We really, really pulled it out in some super pressure situations against a senior-led Copley team. I’m very proud of that.”

Senior libero Emerson Spiesz paced the Greenmen with 27 receptions, 20 digs, nine assists and three aces.

“Emerson has every school record in the book right now,” said Cicione. “She really is our veteran on our team. She’s been on varsity since she was a freshman. She is a competitor, means a lot to our program and to our team. In any moment of question, she leads the huddle, and you can just feel how bad she wants it. She pursues every ball defensively and operates under a high volleyball IQ.”

The score against the Minutemen was 22-25, 27-29, 25-17, 25-20, 16-14.

“It took us a bit to adjust to the type of speed that Revere plays at. They’re more of a ball- control type of team,” said Cicone, who won her 100th career game with the victory over Revere. “We got into the fifth set, and I had all the belief that we were going to be able to pull this out because it felt like everybody was on the same page. We played tough when it mattered most.

“When we were down two sets, we had to really get a grip and really hone in on ‘What are we actually trying to do right now?’ We have to expect everybody’s best volleyball game at this point being undefeated in the conference. I think it was a testing moment for the girls: ‘Is this something we’re capable of doing?’ It goes far beyond the x’s and o’s of volleyball: ‘Do we have the mental stability to be able to push this out?’ And they did. I’m very, very proud of them.”

Sophomore setter Kaylie Liepins hung up a career-high 50 assists and also had 21 digs, seven kills, two aces and two blocks. Junior outside hitter Aubrey Verdova totaled 26 kills, 13 receptions, seven digs, two assists and an ace, while sophomore libero Arabella Wetzel notched 17 digs, 14 receptions, five aces and a pair of assists.

“Kaylie played lights out,” said Cicione. “She was so coachable and was extremely present throughout the whole match. She put up some aggressive sets to the correct hitters in pressure situations, which is high-level volleyball. Aubrey turns it on when it matters most. She really executed in pressure situations.”

According to Cicione, her team is awfully hungry.

“We want to put another number up on that banner,” she said. “We want to do that for each other.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt was able to put it in cruise control in victories over Cuyahoga Falls Aug. 28 at home and Barberton Sept. 2 on the road. The Rough Riders upped their record to 2-2.

Said head coach Jen Chlad, “I was able to play our entire bench, including a lot of our new, up-and-coming sophomores for both matches.”

The score against the Black Tigers was 25-15, 25-16, 25-21.

“We pretty much dominated at the net with blocking defensively,” said Chlad. “Our team never gave up on any of the balls. Blocking is definitely going to be a strength of ours throughout the season. Cuyahoga Falls was religiously attacking our setter, senior Jorja Crabtree (14 digs); they were dumping a lot of balls to her, but we were able to make out-of-system plays happen. That’s how we really shined.”

The score against the Magics was 25-13, 25-9, 25-20. Senior outside hitter/setter Camryn McLaughlin totaled 17 receptions, 12 digs and seven kills to pace Kent Roosevelt.

GARFIELD

Garfield enjoyed a breather Sept. 2 in a 25-5, 25-13, 25-10 rout at home over Youngstown Liberty to improve to 2-2 after losing its first two games. All 12 team members played in at least two sets.

“We played really strong,” head coach Ali Roach said.

Senior libero Lily Shay led the way with 11 receptions, six digs, two aces and an assist.

“We were the first serving team, and Lily served the first 17 points for us. She’s very strategic on her serving, too, so they aren’t just going over and in,” said Roach. “We didn’t have a ton of dig opportunities because we had a strong offense, but when the opportunity presented itself, Lily also made good passes to my setters.”

Setters Tenley Korosec, a sophomore, and Reese Shirkey, a senior, played well. Korosec had 20 assists, five digs, four aces and a kill, while Shirkey totaled nine assists, five digs, three kills and two aces.

“Both of my setters are pretty solid,” the coach said. “They both have a good amount of assists this year.”

Senior middle blocker Mandy Cardinal had 11 kills and two blocks, while sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Lola Lake had eight kills, an ace, a dig and a reception. Junior outside hitter Charlee Hill notched seven kills (including five in the opening set), three digs and a reception.

WATERLOO

Waterloo was competitive in only the second set Sept. 2 in a 25-10, 25-19, 25-6 loss at home to Mineral Ridge. The Vikings fell to 2-4 on the season.

“Mineral Ridge is a solid team,” head coach Aleck Franks said. “The score reflected us not communicating well enough, too. We were hesitating a lot, a little more than we normally do.”

Senior outside hitter Delaney Miller led the way with eight digs, seven receptions, six kills, four aces and an assist.

“Delaney is one of our smaller hitters, but she’s very smart,” said Franks. “I thought she did a very good job of finding the open court where Mineral Ridge holes were and putting the ball there.”

Senior setter Brilyn Eddy had seven assists, five digs, a kill and an ace. A knee injury early in the third set caused her to miss the rest of the match. Junior defensive specialist Kyleigh Kaiser notched seven digs and an assist.

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood is young and inexperienced this season.

It’s that simple.

“We’re still trying to put things together,” head coach Wanda Hoffman said of her team that dropped its fifth straight game to open the season by a 25-23, 25-16, 25-10 score Sept. 2 at home to West Geauga. “West Geauga is a very nice team, and they had some good, aggressive hitters. We did not serve receive well and made a lot of serving errors.”

Pacing the Red Devils were juniors Jackie Blasiole, a six-position player, and Piper Seibold, a defensive specialist.

“Jackie was hustling all over the floor making some great saves,” said Hoffman. “Piper had a really good defensive game. She was where she needed to be and had some really nice, crisp passes.”

Five days earlier, on Aug. 28, Crestwood fell 25-12, 25-16, 25-18 at Jefferson Area.

“Going in I was excited because we’d been playing pretty well, including our hustle,” said the coach. “I don’t think it was our best match. We kind of just fell apart. The communication was off, there were a lot of unforced errors and we didn’t hustle, didn’t put pieces together like we had been.”

Junior middle blocker Grace Harper played a good game despite the defeat.

“Grace took charge serving and had really nice serves. She had some pretty nice blocks also,” Hoffman said. “She played confident and was a good leader.”