Shelby, Lexington prepare for league title, postseason runs in tri-match with Norwalk

SHELBY — When Shelby volleyball coach Katelyn Olewiler looked at the 2024 season schedule before Game 1, she circled Sept. 28's tri-match with Lexington and Norwalk.

If everything played out the way she had hoped, her Whippets would be in a league championship hunt on that date and preparations for a run at a district championship could also begin and there would be no better way than to play two of the better volleyball programs in the area.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE: Crestview nabs first sectional title on the links since 2014

She must have a crystal ball because that was the exact scenario heading into Saturday's matches.

"We definitely want to push ourselves to get ready for tournament time and the rest of our league schedule," Olewiler said. "This was a great test to figure out what our weaknesses are. It showed us what we need to work on if we want to accomplish some big things the rest of the season."

Shelby ended up sweeping Lexington in two sets 25-14 and 25-16 in possibly its best match of the season controlling possession and dictating the action all match long.

"It is a big deal to beat Lexington because we didn't perform very well last year against them," Olewiler said. "We wanted to redeem ourselves while having last year in the backs of our minds."

Shelby's Madison Henkel was dominant in the match sending down kills and getting blocks on balls in the front row. The junior may have helped the Whippets clinch a No. 1 seed in the Division IV district tournament with that score.

"We knew we had to come to play today because Lexington is a very good team and so is Norwalk," Henkel said. "We haven't had a ton of success with volleyball in recent years so winning against Lexington is definitely big for us. We have seven seniors who want to make the most out of their last season and I love every single one of them and I want to do everything I can to make this a big year for them."

The Whippets ended up falling to 15-1 Division III Norwalk in the second match 25-20 and 25-22 but it was a match that only prepared them for what was coming down the road.

"The games help build our confidence and gets us ready to play hard and work hard in the rest of our games this season," Henkel said. "We cannot have a letdown if we want to achieve our goals. We are playing with a lot of energy right now and we are super excited to keep moving forward with that energy."

Shelby is locked in a tight Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference title race sitting tied with Highland and Pleasant atop the league standings. The Whippets play Pleasant on Oct. 8 after two other MOAC matches against Ontario and Clear Fork. With three wins, the Whippets have a chance to win a league championship and Saturday's matches against Norwalk and Lexington did more than prepare them for that run.

"Both of these teams have amazing outside hitters that are similar to the Pleasant girl we will see again later in the season," Olewiler said. "We were able to go against them so we can work on our defense digging up those hard-driven balls, setting up our blocks and how we should line up. It gave us a game plan of how we can go against the rest of the teams on our league schedule and hopefully come away with a championship."

Lexington is also in a league championship hunt sitting tied with Wooster atop the Ohio Cardinal Conference standings. Lady Lex still has matches with Ashland, Madison and New Philadelphia left needing wins in all of them to claim a share of the OCC crown.

Lex lost both of their matches falling to Shelby before losing to Norwalk 25-17 and 25-22 in a match that Lex made a solid comeback to keep it close thanks to a spark from All-Ohio outside hitter Ava Brown moving to setter for a few points.

"I felt like that was a bright spot to come back and make it close against last year's district champion," Lexington coach Janelle Wyant said. "These are two great teams we just played. But, I told the girls after the game that their eyes have to be set on Monday and getting back to work toward a league championship. These two games prepared us for that."

It also prepared them for the postseason as Shelby is in the same district tournament with Lexington. Lady Lex will keep the film from that first match and learn from it for a possible rematch.

"We will see Shelby and Liberty Benton in the postseason and we should have things worked out by then," Wyant said. "We saw some good things when Ava (Brown) moved to setter and Alexis Foster is improving every day. We just have to play with what we have and weigh the pros and the cons every match."

Regardless of going 0-2, Wyant felt like Lady Lex improved despite suffering through some roster shakeups.

"We knew it was going to be a tough day," Wyant said. "But you get better by playing great teams. That is how you improve as a team. They can be mad today, but Monday, they have to get back in the gym and get ready to fight for an OCC title and then turn their focus on a sectional and district tournament."

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

X: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Shelby, Lexington prepare for league title, postseason runs in tri-match with Norwalk