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•Two sophomores are responsible for the New Albany girls tennis team’s first representation in the Division I state tournament in five years.
Paige Cornelius and Richie Francois went 3-1 and finished second at district, losing to Olentangy Orange’s Karol Korotkin and Tyler Reed 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the doubles final Oct. 16 at Hilliard Davidson. They qualified for state Oct. 14 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Dublin Coffman’s Lauren Burkett and Emily Yoshino, erasing a 2-1 deficit in the second set to complete the sweep.
The duo saw limited time together during the regular season, primarily playing singles.
“Any time you have a doubles team, you want to see both players fill different roles. You don’t want them to be stepping on each other. Richie is really big from the baseline and she has big volleys, but hers is a bigger-flighted ball,” coach Marc Thomas said. “Paige keeps the ball at a lower trajectory but her volleys are, in my opinion, some of the best in the state. Her hands are really, really good. We’re not playing our best tennis yet, but it took a lot to (qualify).”
Cornelius, who also stars for New Albany’s field hockey team, and Francois, who moved to New Albany from Florida before this school year, are the Eagles’ first state qualifiers since the doubles team of Taylor Selby and Christina Vitellas in 2016.
They will face North Canton Hoover’s Angelina Koinoglou and Isabelle Warburton in the first round at state Oct. 22 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
—Dave Purpura
•Before falling to Watterson 25-10, 25-20, 25-17 in its regular-season finale Oct. 16, the Gahanna Lincoln girls volleyball team had won 12 in a row.
Included in that stretch was a 25-16, 25-20, 25-15 win over New Albany on Oct. 14 that gave the Lions a share of the OCC-Ohio championship with Westerville Central at 9-1.
It was Gahanna’s second league title in three seasons but the first under second-year coach Ashanti Slone. Last season, the Lions and Central both finished with one league loss but the Warhawks were declared the champions because Gahanna played only six league matches.
“The first two or three weeks of the season were against some really good teams, but we learned a lot from those games,” Slone said. “You can see the growth. It’s very exciting.”
Gahanna is 14-8 overall and the 14th seed for the Division I district tournament, with its postseason opener coming Oct. 20 at home against 18th-seeded Upper Arlington.
Second-seeded Olentangy Orange and 12th-seeded Dublin Jerome are the only higher seeds in Gahanna’s bracket.
Seniors Alivia Dials (right-side hitter) and Kendall White (setter/outside hitter) and junior Audrey Cotner (outside hitter) have been among the leaders offensively, with senior Mia Hill leading the defense after moving to libero at midseason.
—Jarrod Ulrey
•The Westerville Central girls volleyball team enters the postseason looking to ride the momentum of winning a second consecutive OCC-Ohio title, as the Warhawks tied Gahanna for first at 9-1.
“The players continue to play as one and leave it better than they found it,” coach Shelley Ebright said of repeating as league champion and defeating both Westerville North and Westerville South.
Central is seeded 10th for the Division I district tournament and plays host to 23rd-seeded Thomas Worthington in the second round Oct. 20. The winner plays 13th-seeded DeSales or 35th-seeded Westland in a semifinal Oct. 26.
The Warhawks, who are 17-5 overall, had a first-round bye.
—Frank DiRenna
•Pickerington Central girls volleyball coach Jeannie Krueger is well aware her team is in what, at least on paper, appears to be the most competitive bracket of the Division I district tournament.
Hitting the reset button and taking a first-round bye was important to Krueger and her coaching staff after a regular season highlighted by the team’s second consecutive OCC-Buckeye championship. The Tigers, who are 17-5, are seeded ninth and will visit fifth-seeded Olentangy Berlin or play host to 44th-seeded Canal Winchester in the second round Oct. 21.
“We wanted to play a tougher opponent. … We thought that would be more beneficial than playing a lower-seeded team,” Krueger said. “We had to question whether we wanted a test right off the bat. We beat Berlin once. We think we are comparable to all of those teams. Our road will not be easy, but we think that’s our best chance of getting a district final and winning.”
Central’s bracket also includes sixth-seeded Dublin Scioto, seventh-seeded Olentangy and eighth-seeded Dublin Coffman.
The Tigers clinched the league with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-10 win at Groveport on Oct. 13, their third championship in four years. Central went 10-0 in the OCC-Buckeye and is 31-9 in league play since the start of the 2018 season.
—Dave Purpura
•The Delaware Hayes girls volleyball team opened the Division I district tournament with a straight-set win over New Albany on Oct. 18.
The Pacers, seeded 17th, have five wins in their last six matches after a 25-11, 25-16, 25-23 victory over the Eagles in the first round. They play host to 32nd-seeded Hilliard Darby on Oct. 20.
Bailey Christiansen had eight kills and five aces, Natalie Hohman had seven digs and four aces, Natalie Davis had nine kills, Rylea Gist had 26 assists and Madison Desmond had 11 kills to lead Delaware against New Albany.
The late-season roll moved Delaware’s record to 14-9. The only loss during the stretch came against OCC-Capital foe Big Walnut in four sets Oct. 18 to close the regular season. The Pacers went 8-6 in the league to tie Worthington Kilbourne for third behind the Golden Eagles and Dublin Scioto, which shared the league title at 13-1.
—Michael Rich
•The Upper Arlington field hockey team won its first COFHL-West championship since the league split into divisions in 2013 when the Golden Bears edged visiting Thomas Worthington 1-0 in overtime Oct. 13.
Ohio State commit Emily Barker scored her team-leading 17th goal of the season off a corner from Clara Reynolds to snap the Cardinals’ six-year streak of COFHL-West titles. According to coach Sara Greaves, research indicated that the Bears had not won a league championship prior to this season.
UA is 12-3-1 overall, went 8-0 in the league and is seeded fifth in the district tournament. The Bears will play host to ninth-seeded Worthington Kilbourne in a second-round game Oct. 20.
—Dave Purpura
•Chloe Brecht scored two goals to help the Olentangy Liberty girls soccer team defeat previously unbeaten Olentangy 2-0 on Oct. 16.
Brecht has 12 goals and nine assists to lead the Patriots, who finished the regular season at 12-1-2. Liberty is 5-0-1 in its last six games, including a 1-all tie against Olentangy Orange on Oct. 12 that clinched the OCC-Central Division title – its first league championship since 2015.
Jaimason Brooker has 10 goals and 12 assists for the Patriots.
Teigan Casey had an assist on one of Brecht’s goals against Olentangy, which finished the regular season at 14-1-2, including a 5-0 mark in OCC-Cardinal play.
—Michael Rich
•The Whetstone girls cross country team enters the Division I, district 2 meet Oct. 23 at Hilliard Darby coming off its second consecutive City League championship.
Junior Anouk Moritz, who won the City title in 19 minutes, 40.2 seconds Oct. 13 at home, wasn’t one of the team’s postseason participants last season when she battled injuries.
“My goal is to make the regional,” Moritz said. “My goal (for the City meet) was to (run 20 minutes) or a little under but I wasn’t expecting it. I’m still kind of processing it.”
Whetstone scored 19 points in the City meet to finish ahead of Eastmoor Academy (52), Centennial (64) and Northland. Eastmoor’s Ariel Youngblood was runner-up (23:37.1) and the Braves’ Ava Feller (23:42.6), Ana Kain (24:39.3), Emi Norris (24:57.7) and Lily Crider (25:46.3) took the next four spots
—Jarrod Ulrey
•The Bexley girls cross country team won its fifth consecutive MSL-Ohio championship Oct. 16 at Whitehall.
The Lions were led by league runner-up Claire MacDonald (20:20.9), who finished behind Grandview’s Maddie Palmisciano (20:10.2). Bexley scored 39 points to finish ahead of runner-up Columbus Academy (58).
Addison Helon (third, 20:46.5), Rylee Barno (seventh, 22:00.8), Elise Garrett (12th, 22:35.0) and Emily Gunther (14th, 22:41.1) also scored for the Lions.
Bexley competes in the Division II, district 2 meet Oct. 23 at Hilliard Darby. The top three teams and top 12 individuals advance to regional Oct. 30 at Pickerington North.
—Scott Hennen
•Riley Tate of the Worthington Kilbourne girls cross country team ran 18:56.81 to win the OCC-Capital meet Oct. 16 at Canal Winchester ahead of 65 other runners.
Toby Bomser (19:57.57) finished eighth and Libby Alderman (20:42.46) was 17th for the Wolves, who finished second (86) of seven teams behind Big Walnut (57).
—Michael Rich
•The Upper Arlington girls water polo team earned the top seed for this weekend’s North Region tournament in its home pool.
Thomas Worthington is seeded third and Worthington Kilbourne is fourth. UA is seeking its seventh state title in nine years and 19th overall.
The tournament will be completed Oct. 23, with the third-place game scheduled for 7 p.m. and the final at 8:15.
The top two teams advance to state Oct. 29 and 30 at Cincinnati Princeton.
—Dave Purpura
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