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•Upper Arlington field hockey coach Sara Greaves has been seeing increased offensive diversity as the Golden Bears enter a winner-take-all game for the COFHL-West Division championship Oct. 13 at home against Thomas Worthington.
The Bears — who are 11-3-1 overall and 7-0 in the COFHL-West, tied for first with the Cardinals — have matched their goal-scoring output of a year ago with 50. Ohio State commit Emily Barker’s 16 goals lead UA, which has had 12 players score at least once.
“I think our biggest opportunity for improvement is to continue increasing our scoring efficiency. We had six corners against Watterson but didn’t score (in a 2-0 loss Sept. 27) and they scored on two of five corners. We’re getting a number of scoring chances, but we just need to finish them,” Greaves said. “The girls are growing more confident by the day and they believe they can compete in any game.”
UA has a first-round bye in the district tournament and will play ninth-seeded Worthington Kilbourne or 14th-seeded Hartley in the second round Oct. 20. The Bears are seeded fifth.
—Dave Purpura
Girls golf: Kary Hollenbaugh leads New Albany to another Division I district title
•The Olentangy field hockey team closed the regular season with a 3-2 win over Olentangy Orange on Oct. 11 and has the best record in program history. The Braves have won five consecutive games to improve to 13-3 overall and finish 6-2 in the COFHL-West.
During the winning streak, Olentangy has outscored opponents 28-3 with three shutouts. The Braves are seeded sixth in the district tournament and will host 10th-seeded Granville or 11th-seeded Bexley in the second round Oct. 21.
—Michael Rich
•Despite an 11-2-2 record entering its regular-season finale Oct. 12 at Westerville Central, including an upset of top-ranked Medina in September, the New Albany girls soccer team was voted the fifth seed in the Division I district tournament.
Olentangy, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Orange and Upper Arlington received the top four seeds, in that order.
The Eagles, who are in 4-0 in the OCC-Ohio Division and have clinched their second consecutive league championship, play host to 25th-seeded Big Walnut or 34th-seeded Mount Vernon in a second-round game Oct. 23.
“This is a competitive district, but there are four quality teams ahead of us. This is just one of those years where there is a lot of strength and anything can happen,” coach Jared Dombrowski said. “Having (11) days before the first tournament game will be a lot of time dedicated to fine-tuning things (and) fixing some of the things I think need to be addressed. We’re in a good place, but any coach will try to prepare their team the best they can and I’m no different.”
—Dave Purpura
•The Dublin Coffman and Upper Arlington girls tennis teams are preparing for a busy week.
On Oct. 18, the teams will play for the OCC-Central Division championship at Coffman, as both are 4-0 in league action.
Then on Oct. 20, UA will play host to the Shamrocks for the OTCA Division I district championship. The winner will advance to the state team tournament Oct. 24 at Reynoldsburg.
Both teams have one loss, each coming by a 3-2 score against New Albany.
The state individual tournament is Oct. 22 and 23 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Coffman has two singles players and one doubles team and UA has one singles player and two doubles teams competing in the district tournament Oct. 14 and 16 at Hilliard Davidson.
—Jarrod Ulrey
•Senior Ella Franz of the Olentangy Berlin girls tennis team won her fourth consecutive sectional championship, kicking off her quest to qualify for the Division I state tournament for the second season in a row.
Franz went 5-0 in a sectional Oct. 8 and 9 at Hilliard Darby to remain unbeaten in 19 matches entering district Oct. 14 and 16 at Hilliard Davidson. The top four finishers in singles and doubles at district advance to state Oct. 22 and 23 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
Franz won a Division II sectional as a freshman and Division I sectionals as a sophomore and junior.
Last fall, she went 1-1 in her first appearance at state after winning a district championship.
Also for Berlin at sectional, the doubles team of sophomores Claire Emanuel and Siri Ponna finished fourth to advance to district. The pair is the program’s first doubles team to qualify for district.
—Scott Hennen
•Molly Ballard is the DeSales girls tennis team’s first district qualifier in nine years, an achievement the senior called satisfying as her career winds down.
Ballard went 4-1 in a Division I sectional Oct. 8 and 9 at Pickerington Central and finished second, losing to Watterson’s Sara Goodlive 6-0, 6-0 in the final. Ballard was seeded second, behind Goodlive, and is the Stallions’ first player to advance to district since My Linh Li and Sarah Schockling did so in singles in 2012.
“It was sad last year to lose (in a qualifying match) so this year I just made it a goal to work as hard as I could to get through,” said Ballard, who has played first singles all season for DeSales. “My variety of shots was huge for me. I really think that’s what it is. I have a lot of variety to choose from and that’s what ultimately helps me and allows me to stay in the game.”
District is Oct. 14 and 16 at Hilliard Davidson. The top four finishers in singles and doubles advance to state Oct. 22 and 23 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
—Dave Purpura
•Libby Alderman of the Worthington Kilbourne girls tennis team advanced to district for the second consecutive season, only this time it was in doubles play. The sophomore teamed with junior Lilly Hershey to finish third in the Division I sectional that concluded Oct. 9 at Pickerington Central.
Alderman, who was a state qualifier in singles as a freshman, and Hershey beat Delaware’s Autumn Doughty and Delaney Nelson (6-1, 6-0) and Watterson’s Reece Borland and Liz Hohlefelder (7-5, 6-4) before falling to top-seeded Tyler Reed and Karol Korotkin (7-5, 6-4) of Olentangy Orange in the semifinal round. They defeated fourth-seeded Avery Reed and Ellie Logan of Orange (6-3, 6-7, 3-2) to place third.
—Michael Rich
•The Grove City Christian girls volleyball team established a program record for wins in a season by beating Millersport 25-23, 25-18, 25-16 on Oct. 11.
The Eagles were 16-4 overall and 10-2 in the MSL-Cardinal before playing Berne Union on Oct. 12.
The previous high for wins in a season was 15 in 2017 (15-9) and 2016 (15-10).
“I’m really happy for the kids, especially the seniors,” coach Joe Bradford said. “We fought through some issues with injuries earlier in the year and the kids just kept playing and adapting through it all.”
Grove City Christian is seeded fifth in the Division IV district tournament and will play host to seventh-seeded Shekinah Christian in the second round Oct. 21.
—Frank DiRenna
•The Westerville South girls volleyball team has enjoyed steady progress under first-year coach Summer Hale.
The Wildcats were 9-10 overall and 6-6 in the OCC-Capital before playing Worthington Kilbourne on Oct. 12. South closes the regular season Oct. 14 against visiting Canal Winchester in a league match.
“We have started playing well together and know what others next to us on the court are going to do,” Hale said. “We are working on being consistent and playing consistent for an entire match and not just a game or two. This comes when we are able to eliminate mistakes and unforced errors.”
The Wildcats are seeded 26th in the Division I district tournament and visit 23rd-seeded Thomas Worthington in the opening round Oct. 18. The winner visits 10th-seeded Westerville Central on Oct. 20.
Through 19 matches, Lauryn Bowie (208) and Hannah Pestorius (93) led South in kills, Maggie Yost (205) and Brenda Light (202) led in assists and Gia Golden led in digs (138).
—Frank DiRenna
•The Dublin Coffman girls cross country team built momentum for the OCC-Central meet Oct. 16 at Olentangy Berlin by capturing the championship in the Les Eisenhart Invitational on Oct. 9 at Thomas Worthington.
The Shamrocks scored 56 points in the 13-team event, with sophomore Kylie Feeney finishing third (18:37.35) and junior Olivia Oiler placing fourth (18:49.1) as Granville’s Regina Rose and Zoee Lehman took first (18:31.25) and second (18:34.73), respectively.
Seniors Kasey Stammen and Kendall Starr, juniors Morgan Halli and Alexis Marsico and sophomore McKenzie Vick also have been key runners for Coffman, which was 15th in the Week 5 state poll.
Hilliard Davidson, which also competes in the OCC-Central, was ranked second in the state — the only central Ohio team ahead of the Shamrocks.
—Jarrod Ulrey
•Leila Boussedra (19:01.52) was fourth of 123 runners to lead the host Thomas Worthington girls cross country team in the Les Eisenhart Invitational on Oct. 9.
Boussedra led the Cardinals (185) to a sixth-place finish out of 13 teams behind champion Dublin Coffman (56).
Worthington Kilbourne’s Riley Tate (19:09.67) was fifth and Toby Bomser (20:06.13) was 13th as the Wolves (216) finished ninth.
Alaina Smullen (20:19.81) placed 20th for the Cardinals.
—Michael Rich
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