CUYAHOGA FALLS: Walsh Jesuit volleyball coach Missy Sturm credits a team meeting for changing a season that could end this weekend with a state championship trophy being thrust into the air.
Her team had the look of champions during scrimmages in August. Then injuries hit, followed by a stretch of losing.
It did not matter that the losses came to outstanding teams, including Toledo St. Ursula, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame and defending state champion Mentor Lake Catholic.
It was time to meet.
“Frustration levels were getting high. [The players] knew they were good,” Sturm said. “The players talked about in the meeting and came out of it even closer. The players learned to accept [injuries] and learned to manage it and mentally accept it.
“Even though we had one more loss, their play came together and we clicked.”
The Warriors (20-7) play Toledo St. Ursula (27-0) at 2 p.m. today in a Division I state semifinal at the Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright State University in Fairborn.
Brittany Zmyslinski is one of the players who has battled through injuries. She has an ulnar nerve issue as a result of a previously fractured elbow that might need surgery. She also is dealing with pain in her right foot.
“Other people on this team have it worse than I do,” said Zmyslinski, a senior outside hitter. “This team is like a puzzle; everyone brings a different piece to make it work.”
Junior outside hitter 5-foot-11 Mary Grace Kelly admitted her own frustration with tendinitis in both legs.
“I felt physically I could not play to my potential,” she said. “I have learned to deal with the pain, and when my adrenaline kicks it, I don’t notice it.”
“It hurts to watch teammates and close friends suffering in pain and not being able to help them,” sophomore Kyra Coundourides said.
Zmyslinski pointed to a crucial moment in the district final as a time the team came together.
Zmyslinski said she hit a ball into the net with the Warriors trailing 2-1 in game four and one point away (24-21) from losing to Stow.
“I thought, ‘Oh no!’ but my teammates came over to me and said just get it next time, and I did,” she said. “When we won, I literally almost collapsed. I did not want to be the reason that we were not playing anymore.”
“The girls worry about the effect something they do will let their teammates down. That’s the kind of girls they are,” Sturm said.
And these girls rely on a defensive brand of the game to carry them.
“It is fun frustrating other teams. You can see when we keep the ball off the floor that look like, ‘Oh shoot! We can’t beat them,’ ” said Michelle Simpson, a senior defensive specialist.
Coundourides’ passing as a setter is extraordinary, somehow managing to get the ball in position to a top-notch front line of Kelly, 6-foot junior middle hitter Annie Osterfeld and Zmyslinski.
Senior libero Courtney Grdina is second in digs with 289 and one of the best in the state. Emma Klein, Becca Kanz, Nicole Onderko and Carla Kanieski also have contributed to the Warriors’ efforts.
Sturm also brought in Kalyn Suplicki from the Warriors’ 2006 team to talk to the players.
“One of the things I told the girls about this weekend is we are bonded together forever by this experience. Kalyn told them to enjoy every minute of this weekend and that the memories they have will last a lifetime,” Sturm said.
Regardless of what happens this weekend, Sturm said the year has been memorable. .
“Some years I’ve had talented teams and they were not very close and others I’ve had less talented teams but they play together and got along,” Sturm said. “With this group I have both. They are talented but also are so much fun and such a pleasure to be around. They are a little quirky and laugh a lot. This is also one of my competitive teams and they leave it all out on the court.”
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