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Versailles
senior Krista Puthoff had a huge night against Miami East in
the Tigers regional semifinal Thursday
played at Trent Arena in
Kettering. Puthoff had 10 kills to help lead the Tigers to a 3-0
victory over the Vikings,
25-13, 25-9, 25-12. CNO Photos by Chuck
Runner, tigerballonline@netzero.com
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Versailles
rocks Miami East in three sets
Tigers to play today in regional finals
By George Starks
KETTERING- When you’re ranked number one in the state, playing around
with you opposition is something a team doesn’t do.
Versailles didn’t play around too much with Miami East Thursday as the
Tigers earned the right to play today in the regional finals after
dropping a convincing 25-13, 25-9, 25-12 loss on the Vikings.
Led by seniors Lauren Bruns with 12 kills and 19 service points with
four aces, Krista Puthoff with 10 kills and setter Janelle Mangen with
35 assists and 13 points, the Tigers rarely gave the Vikings much time
to breathe, let alone think about things.
If Versailles left the Vikes any kind of an opeming, it came in the
third game.
Despite taking a 4-3 and never losing that advantage, Miami East was
allowed to hang around until it was 13-11.
At that point, East called for time and Versailles coach Carla Frilling
gave her team a little bit of Tiger coaching.
“I told the girls that I takes only one game with a lack of focus and
you’re sending yourself into extended games,” said Frilling. “Then you
start wearing on yourself mentally and physically. It’s hard to play
games four and five and we just about did that to ourselves tonight.”
Coming off an ankle injury, it was Bruns that shined with her will to
overcome.
“Lauren is a senior. She knows what it means to be on the court and I’m
not going to keep her from being on the court,” exclaimed Frilling.
“She defiantly rehabbed to the point where she could be out there on
the court so I felt very confident that she was fine. She was a little
slow and wasn’t playing a hundred percent and that was to be expected.
Bascially, we told the team in pre-game that we need to have people
stepping up. Everyone had to be a presence out there. She wasn’t a
hundred percent and by no means did we expect her to be. She still
played a well-rounded game for us.”
It was a night when big scoring runs paid big dividends for the Tigers.
In the opening set and the Tigers holding a slim 6-5 advantage, it was
the first of consecutive points being scored for Versailles.
With Lauren Monnin doing the duty, the Versailles junior recorded seven
straight points, including an ace, giving Versailles a commanding 13-6
advantage.
At that points, the Tigers went on a 0-3 run, building a 23-10 lead and
a 25-13 game one win.
Game two was a mirror image of the opener with Bruns doing the damage
early.
With things knotted at 1-1, Bruns stepped up and delivered eight
straight points and a 9-2 Tiger lead.
Versailles, with its superior net play and back row superiority, the
Tigers stopped Miami East at every turn, holding the Vikings to only
seven points the rest of the way.
Game three was a horse of another color.
Versailles allowed the Vikings to hang around and stay to within a
13-11 count.
That’s when East called time and Frilling let it be known, she wasn’t
happy.
When play resumed, the Tigers unloaded eight straight points with
senior Taylor Winner doing the honors.
At that point a two point lead blossomed into a 21-12 advantage after
the Vikings had broken serve.
That would be the final time Miami East would crack the scoreboard as
Mangen would close it out with the final three points of the night.
With the offense never being in question, it was defense that turned
the trick for Versailles, namely in the back row.
“I thought our defense played well tonight,” said Frilling. “We’ve been
preparing the girls all season for teams with big hitters and tonight
it paid off. We were definitely prepared for them tonight.”
Today, the Tigers will take on Sparta Highlands in the regional finals
starting at 2 pm.
It was a year ago the Tigers eliminated the Scots in the same regional
finals as they won the D-III state volleyball title.
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Senior
setter Janelle Mangen recorded 35 assists and tallied 13 service points
for the Tigers.
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