What wasn’t present during Thursday night’s skirmish between Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rivals Mineral Ridge and Western Reserve?

Both programs have established themselves this season as elite teams in the Mahoning Valley with the Rams coming into the contest ranked 12th in the latest Division III OHSVCA state poll, and the Blue Devils finding themselves not far behind at 15.

More importantly, the match had major potential conference title ramifications in the MVAC. At the end of the day, Mineral Ridge would earn themselves a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-17, 25-22) over a very strong Blue Devils team.

With the win, the Rams have a two-game lead in the MVAC.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes

Rams senior Jersey Tucker (9) sends the ball over the net on the match point in the third set. She also tied the team-high with 10 digs and a block.

“I mean they’re (Western Reserve) such a good team,” said Rams coach Ron Lesko. “So, as far as that goes, there’s probably nobody else that’s going to beat them in the conference.

“They’re a solid team, and there’s always the chance, you step out on the court and you play. Anybody can win on any given night, but in reality, as good as they are, if we don’t beat them, we’re probably going to end up, if we’re lucky enough to win out, we’re going to split the conference with them.”

Both teams battled back and forth all evening, but Mineral Ridge (14-2) just kept one step ahead. Senior Katelyn Lesko played a big part in her team’s win with eight kills.

With all of the buzz within the gymnasium during the contest, the senior outside hitter ignored any outside noise.

“Oh, there definitely was a lot of energy and tension,” she said “I think that I feed off the energy when certain calls don’t go our way. I don’t engage in the conversion necessarily, I just fight back with our play, and that’s what the girls focused on, like you gotta kill them like, with your winning.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes

Mineral Ridge senior Danielle Aulet sets the ball for the Rams during the second set. She recorded 29 assists in the sweep over Western Reserve, and reached a career milestone of 2,000 assists during the match.

As with any win, teamwork played a big part.

“I think the cross court for my hitting worked really well, and I really relied on that because they always expected me to go line.”

Fellow senior Danielle Aulet achieved a massive career milestone during the win by recording her 2,000th career assist.

“I honestly didn’t even think I’d get 1,000,” Aulet said. “Like, it feels crazy, I didn’t think I’d get 2,000 and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They were putting in the effort to get me those kills and I just ended up with those assists.”

Aulet had a game-high 29 assists.

“The energy really makes you want to play better,” Aulet said. “Without a crowd, it’s a little difficult because of COVID, but I thought we lifted each other up, we really fed off of each other tonight. It makes it so much better, last time we played Reserve we won 3-1, but I think we really wanted to get this 3-0 win.”

Coach Lesko credits Aulet’s work ethic on the court for achieving such a big milestone.

“She is a player, that in 99 percent of the time that she touches the ball, she betters the ball,” he said “Being able to do that is the reason why she’s got 2,000 assists, so everytime the ball comes in, even if it’s not a great pass, she’s able to put it in a window where the kids and can it, and it paid off.”

Senior Morgan Sigley led the Rams with 10 kills, junior Megan Gerberry had 13 digs, along with senior Jersey Tucker who had 10.

Blue Devils senior Danielle Vuletich and freshman Alyvia Hughes each had eight kills. Sophomore Gianna Paris recorded 20 assists and 12 digs.

Western Reserve drops to 14-5 and coach Jennifer Hake felt that errors cost them.

“I’m really proud of the girls for keeping their heads held high and trying to battle,” she said “We did get in our own way by making too many mistakes, especially at key moments and if we can iron that stuff out, we’re really going to help ourselves out going forward.”

This season has been a bizarre one for every team, but Hake wants her girls to gain something out of the sport of volleyball besides just wanting to win.

“My ultimate philosophy is for these girls to leave here as high-class people with good character,” Hake said. “And I think my girls showed an immense amount of character tonight and I think in the end that’s more important than anything.

“I think league wins are awesome, state championships are amazing, but you know, you win some and you lose some. We only end our season with a loss if you’re not the state championship winner. Everybody else ends on a loss, so you need to learn from that, but the one thing you can leave here with is being a good teammate and having high class and good character, and I think that’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.”