Suburban American volleyball is 'a great test for tournament play' for Highland and rivals

Highland, Revere, Copley and Aurora are entering the OHSAA girls volleyball tournament after experiencing several tests against each other.

Highland (18-4, 13-1) won the Suburban League American Conference championship for the sixth season in a row. Some of the titles have been shared, but this year's was not as the Hornets swept Copley, Tallmadge, Barberton, Kent Roosevelt, Cuyahoga Falls and Aurora and split with Revere.

"The Suburban League American Conference is a great test for tournament play," Highland coach Laura Merk said. "All of our conference, except Cuyahoga Falls, is in our district for Division III. It's nice knowing we have seen a portion of those 48 teams before. The American side of the conference is always a fun one. These teams year in and year out are always scrappy. No matter how many starters or contributing players a program has graduated, many teams are continually rostering a competitive team.

"There are no givens, it seems like, on our side of the conference; you can't take any game for granted. That is some of the best preparation that you can get for postseason play. Having four of our league's teams placed in the top 12 of our district's bracket for tournament seeding shows how we have been tested already for the competition to come in the tournament."

Highland, Revere, Copley and Aurora are each scheduled to play in a sectional final Thursday. Highland is hosting North and Copley is hosting Rocky River in the Northeast 3 district. Revere is the site for its match with Painesville Harvey and Aurora's match with Chardon in the Northeast 6 district.

Highland is led by Ashley Shefferly, Lily Vojtko, Aleena VanKirk, Tia Velayedam, Kennedy Morgan, Sofija Kozul, Emily Stanik, Kamryn Heldreth, Carley Niese and Ava Andrews.

"Winning our sxith straight conference title, I think it is a testament to all the hard work that our players and coaches are putting in at all levels of play year in and year out," Merk said. "Highland tries to put together a competitive program each year. I think this year was especially indicative of that.

"Our seventh and eighth grade programs won the conference tournament and at the high school level both the freshman and JV teams were undefeated in the league. Our past and present players have laid a foundation of leadership and accountability that pushes each group of players year after year to be their very best."

Revere (18-4, 11-3) split with Highland, Copley (16-6, 10-4) and Aurora (13-8, 10-4) and swept its other league foes.

Revere coach Alanna Ramsey said league rivals "definitely prepare us for the playoffs."

"The Suburban League 100 percent gave us a lot of competition this year," Ramsey said. "All the way around, a lot of us graduated a lot of seniors last year, but a lot of our underclassmen really stepped up. Not just here at Revere, but all of the schools in the league and around are stepping up in a huge way. These freshmen are coming in super strong."

Revere's top players are Grace Regula, Maddie Milicia, Tessa Milicia, Jessa Randall, Paige Kelley, Lindsay Kish, Alivia Gardner and Ali Linderbaum.

"The coaches all know each other in the league," Copley coach Antoine Pastor said. "As one of the older coaches here, a lot of people are trying to beat us and we are trying to beat them. Highland is always on top. It is always a big, fun match with them.

"The second time playing all of the teams is always who makes the moves, who plays a little cleaner and who makes those adjustments. The second time, we have been a little short against Revere and Highland. They made better adjustments than we did and executed a solid game plan. That is what it comes down to."

Copley's leaders are Meryn Stacy, Natalia Hamilton, Ava Teixeira, Angelina Cerra, Annie Quinlan, Kalynn Stoner, Alexis Walker, Carmen Cunat and Ava Perkins.

Aurora features talented junior Emerson Spiesz.

"For our conference in general, the teams that are at the top like Highland, Revere and Aurora, those teams are always really fun to compete against," Pastor said. "You never know who is going to take those matches because we are all so equally matched. It comes down a lot to heart and who shows up and has those adjustments."

Pastor added that "Akron volleyball is growing as an area in volleyball."

Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Suburban American volleyball is 'a great test for tournament play' for Highland and rivals