Martins Ferry Volleyball Storms Back To Prevail In District Championship

CADIZ - Do you believe in miracles?

The 1969 New York Mets and the 1980 USA Men's Olympic hockey team did. Now the Martins Ferry volleyball team does too.

The second-seeded Purple Riders (24-1) lost the first two sets of the Ohio Division V, District 2 championship match Thursday night only to roar back and capture the next three sets to punch their ticket to the Region 20 semifinals with a stunning 22-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23 and 15-7 triumph over No. 3 Navarre Fairless (23-2) at Harrison Central High School.

"This is surreal right now," Martins Ferry head coach Jaela Thoburn said. "After losing the first two games I was like 'here we go again.' But one thing this victory makes me forget about is losing in the OVAC (Class 4A) finals."

Down 2-0 to the No. 10 Falcons, fourth-ranked Martins Ferry stayed calm, didn't panic and came together as a team to extend their season for at least another week.

"I wish I knew. I wish I knew," Koller admitted. "We didn't change anything. In the second set we got into our own heads again, and I don't know why we continue to do that in the second set. We've done that for years now, but once we got to the fifth set, there was no doubt. They didn't let up one bit."

When asked if she believed in miracles, Koller said no, but added "I believe in kids and all the hard work that they have put in. It paid off."

The third set was deadlocked nine times, the last at 20-all before Martins Ferry used a kill by Nicole Hammerquist, a service ace from SJ Koller and a kill by Giana Chirpas before Navarre Fairless had a long return as the lead grew to 24-20. After a pair of points by the Falcons, a thunderous kill by Chirpas kept the Purple Riders alive, 25-22.

In the fourth set, Martins Ferry snapped a 15-all stalemate with a six-point run and led 23-17 before Navarre Fairless ran off six straight to draw even. The Purple Riders went ahead 24-23 when Falcon player stepped on the center line and Hammerquist put the hammer down with two hands to seal the deal, 25-23.

Martins Ferry had never been pushed to a fifth set, but left no doubt about who was the better team by scoring eight of the first nine points and never looked back. Kills by Hammerquist and Chirpas touched off a wild celebration among the team and their Purple faithful.

"This means a lot. One of my biggest dreams in any sport was to make a really good playoff run," Chirpas, a tri-captain, allowed. "I think we're sitting pretty right now and I think we're going to go a pretty long way."

Senior tri-captain Maddie Lucas said, "We've worked so much. We've worked four years for this. We've come up short every year and we knew we only had this year to do it."

Lucas said she had a reminder tucked away.

"I actually left my OVAC runnerup medal in my bag to remind me what it felt like to lose. I didn't want another medal like that tonight."

Koller, the other tri-captain, added, "This is really exciting. This was a goal of ours this entire season. Now we hope to get to the state tournament."

Chirpas led the Purple Riders with 23 kills and three blocks, while Hammerquist added 13 kills and a trio of blocks. Maddie Lucas charted 10 kills and 16 digs. SJ Koller had 34 digs and three service aces, while Olivia Harkness finished with 36 assists and two aces.

Martins Ferry will meet top-seeded Meadowbrook on Thursday night at 8 o'clock in the second match of a doubleheader at Cambridge High School.