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Shadyside Advances to Regionals

SHADYSIDE — Shadyside volleyball coach Eric Mercer always preaches to his team about having a short memory.

The Tigers displayed that short memory on Saturday afternoon and in turn made memories they will never forget.

After dropping the first two sets of the Division IV East District Final inside the Tiger Den, the Tigers came roaring back to win the final three sets to pull off a remarkable 20-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 15-10 victory over Tuscarawas Central Catholic.

With the win, Shadyside advances to the regional for the first time in school history, where it will face the winner of Portsmouth Notre Dame and South Webster on Thursday at a site to be determined.

“We got in the huddle in between sets and my message to them all year has been to have a short memory,” Mercer said. “If you make a mistake, forget it and make the next play. I also told them ‘ladies, I don’t have anything else to do today. I’m here all day. Let’s take this thing to five. This is only over if you decide it’s over.’ And they decided it wasn’t over.

“Tusky is a very good team. Every year they put a good team on the court. So, I’m super proud of my crew to come back from down 2-0 and win this thing for the district championship. This team is making history for Shadyside this year and I’m really proud of them.”

This Shadyside squad also captured the only OVAC title in program history earlier in the campaign. In the first two sets, Shadyside battled and got as close as 17-15 in both sets but couldn’t quite close the gap. They did in the next three sets.

With the score of the third game deadlocked at 18-18, the Tigers reeled off a 7-2 run to win the set with Caroline Mercer and Tory Hendershot combining for five of those points and Gentry Brown blasting several crucial kills.

Shadyside jumped out to a 16-15 edge in the fourth set and caught fire down the stretch, finishing on a 9-2 spurt to force the fifth and decisive set.

The last set saw seven ties early but with Tusky clinging to a 7-6 edge, the Tigers began to pull away as they delivered a 6-0 run behind dominant serving from Caroline Mercer to secure a 12-7 cushion. They never looked back as Caroline Mercer set up Brown for the match-ending kill.

“They fought back hard in the third set,” Coach Mercer said.

“It was very tight, back-and-forth, it could have gone either way. We kind of took control right at the end and the fourth set was kind of the same way. Then, in the fifth set we just made play after play. Nothing was hitting the floor and they were just scrapping for everything. I’m so proud of them.”

Brown’s play at the net was key down the stretch. She tallied a game-high 25 kills and added 10 digs and four aces in the process.

“They just had trouble adjusting to (Brown),” Coach Mercer said.

“The passing was good and we were getting good sets to her outside and they could not get their blockers out there because they had to respect our middle hitter. So, they were giving her 1-on-1, or 1-on-1 but their middle hitter wasn’t quite there and she was just ripping them. The speed of her arm swing is tough to adjust to if you’ve never seen it before and they’ve never seen that before. Everything was just working.”

Hendershot provided 14 kills, four digs and key leadership in the comeback, as well.

“It’s very exciting. I knew we could do it,” Hendershot said. “This is one of the best teams to come through this program. We didn’t really communicate well in the first set and our energy was down. In the third, fourth and fifth sets our energy was up and we played to our potential.

“When our energy is up, we know we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.”

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