Crestview’s volleyball team celebrates its Div. V district title win over Chagrin Falls on Thursday at Streetsboro High School. (Photo by Michael Burich)

STREETSBORO –Crestview’s tradition of success in the district tournament hasn’t jaded the Rebels a bit.

On Thursday, the top-seeded Rebels beat No. 5 seed Chagrin Falls 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22 in a Div. V district final to earn its seventh straight trip to the regional tournament.

Rebel coach Alisha Auer has seen it all in her coaching career, but she said this one was a bit special seeing as her team only had two players back who played all six rotations last year and few players who saw select playing time at the varsity level.

“Lainy Auer and Sophia Stewart played six rotations last year and Sophia Dattilio played some varsity and Kerrigan Miller played a little bit of varsity last year, but other than that I have a bunch of young kids,” Auer said. “For them to come in here with the confidence to play these tight games and not crack with the experience they might not have at this level, I was super proud of them.”

Crestview (22-3) will meet old foe and three-time defending state-champion Mentor Lake Catholic (15-10) at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Medina High School. The eighth-seeded Cougars dispatched Wayne County Athletic League champion and No. 3 seed Norwayne 26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 25-20 in Thursday’s other district final held in the Streetsboro gym. This will be the fourth straight season the Rebels will face the Cougars in the regionals.

Senior Rebel star Lainy Auer has played 337 sets in her Rebel career and will surpass current University of Pittsburgh freshman Abbey Emch if she plays in two sets against Lake Catholic in the regional semifinal. Of the eight match losses Lainy Auer has suffered in her career, three have come from Lake Catholic.

“I’m just really glad we won districts again,” Lainy Auer said. “We’re going to give it our all at regionals and whatever happens, happens.”

Against Chagrin Falls (18-5), searching for its first district title since 2004, Auer showed why she is the linchpin in the Rebel attack as she had 34 kills, 18 digs and two aces.

Fellow captain Stewart, who was presented with the district title trophy along with Auer after the match, had 38 assists, four aces and 16 digs. Emerging freshman talent Bella Ciapala added four kills and three blocks, while junior libero Miller had 20 digs and an ace. Sophia Noling also had a sizable contribution with 10 kills.

One other player who was called upon to step up was senior middle Dattilio. It was her 18th birthday after all.

“My coach has been telling me to be more aggressive and to talk to my setter more and to close the blocks, so I really worked on that today,” Dattilio said.

From the outset, the match looked like it would be a close one, but Crestview’s experience at districts weighed heavily on the scales and the Rebels were able to set the tone with the first game win.

“I knew coming into tonight was going to be a really tough match,” Lainy Auer said. “Obviously last year maybe it was a little bit of an easier path. This year we knew we had to play tough and fight through it.”

Falls found its legs in the second game at it built leads of 13-9 and 21-17 which caused Crestview to call timeout. The Tigers were able to close it out but the momentum was swept away almost immediately in the third set when Crestview opened on a 9-1 run.

After that it appeared the Rebels would have all the confidence it needed to put the Tigers away.

Alisha Auer credited the poise with the players being around for all of the past successes even though they might not have played.

“I dress a lot of kids at tournament because I want them to feel the experience and know what it is like to be here,” Alisha Auer said.

Falls coach Kelly Holtz thought that the Tigers had some momentum stopped by several of the many call reversals by officials.

“There were some obvious calls that we didn’t agree with, but that’s part of the game,” Holtz said. “It’s all subjective but it felt a little heavy on one side tonight versus the other. You can only control what you can control. We did all we could do.”

Even with some scouting left to do following the match, Crestview made sure to savor this one with a tough task on the horizon.

“Some district championships feel different and this is one of those,” Auer said.

Notes

¯ In a sign of the times regarding moving district tournaments farther away and ticket prices going up, Chagrin Falls and Crestview did not have a student section at the match.

¯ Kevin McKinstry, brother of East Liverpool head volleyball coach Dan McKinstry, was one of the floor officials.

¯ Lake Catholic finished third in its conference behind Parma Padua and Elyria Catholic. Elyria Catholic advanced to the Medina regional with a sweep of Girard on Thursday. The Panthers will play Burton Berkshire in the other regional semifinal.

¯ While the regional semifinals will be played at Medina, the regional final will be back at Streetsboro.