Photo by Brian Dulik

Setter Kyra Coundourides, outside hitter Mary Grace Kelly, libero Courtney Grdina, and coach Missy Sturm (left to right) address the media following Walsh Jesuit's three-game loss to Toledo St. Ursula in the OHSAA Division I state semifinals.

FAIRBORN, Ohio -- Walsh Jesuit’s magical postseason run came to an end Friday in the Final Four of the OHSAA volleyball tournament.

Defending champion Toledo St. Ursula got 12 kills from first-team All-Ohio middle hitter Cassidy Croci and 22 assists from Madison Strall en route to a 25-16, 27-25, 25-18 victory over the Warriors in the Division I state semifinals.

Junior outside hitter Mary Grace Kelly fired a match-high 14 kills for Walsh Jesuit, which also got 24 assists from sophomore setter Kyra Coundourides and 14 digs from senior libero Courtney Grdina.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Warriors (20-8) ran into a buzzsaw in the top-ranked Arrows (28-0) on the campus of Wright State University. St. Ursula has now won all seven of its postseason matches via sweeps.

“I want to tell everyone how proud I am of this team and everything they accomplished this season,” Walsh Jesuit coach Missy Sturm said. “They showed tremendous perseverance, learned from their mistakes, and got better and better and better along the way. We truly had a wonderful tournament run.

“It just came down to St. Ursula having a lot more experience. They knew this court and they knew what to do when they got here.”

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Senior outside hitter Brittany Zmyslinski added five kills and three blocks, and senior defensive specialist Michelle Simpson recorded 10 digs for the Warriors.

Grdina and Simpson shared team-high honors with two aces apiece, while the other 12th-grader on the roster, outside hitter Emma Klein, had two kills in Walsh Jesuit’s debut at the state D-I tournament. Sturm previously led the Warriors to two runner-up showings in Division II.

“It was great to get this experience under our belts now,” said Kelly, who added eight digs. “We’ll definitely miss our seniors, but it gives us something to shoot for as a team next year.”

Sturm agreed, saying, “This group as a whole is very competitive and they just got a huge nugget of experience here. They’re not going to forget this.”

The Arrows will face Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (23-5) in the championship Saturday at 3 p.m. The Cougars notched a 25-21, 26-28, 25-15, 25-15 win over Findlay (22-6) in the first semifinal of the afternoon.

If St. Ursula can control the net in the final as well as it did against the Warriors, it is a lock to win back-to-back state championships -- and extend its winning streak to 49 matches.

University of New Hampshire signee Croci and Wheeling Jesuit-bound Strall each had five rejections, while senior outside hitter Erin Williams had four and freshman middle Lauran Graves recorded three as part of the team’s 22-block performance.

In Game 1, Walsh Jesuit took a 3-2 lead on a Zmyslinski ace, but the Arrows scored the next three points to go in front for good. The turning point of the opener actually came at 5-3, when St. Ursula sent back three straight Warriors attacks -- one from each front row spot -- before Croci ripped a kill in the middle.

“We blocked extremely well, especially early on, which we wanted to do because we knew they would then start tipping (instead of swinging hard at the net), which is what happened,” St. Ursula coach John Buck said. “But give Walsh Jesuit credit, they served so strong in the second game, they managed to take us out of our system.

“It would have been a huge momentum lift for them if they had pulled that one out.”

In Game 2, the Arrows jumped out to an 11-5 advantage before the Warriors came storming back behind the service line. Grdina’s first ace knotted the score at 22-22, while her second gave Walsh Jesuit a potential game point at 24-22. Junior middle hitter Annie Osterfeld supplied a kill in between.

A pair of questionable calls by the officials, coupled with a Warriors miscue, gave St. Ursula a 25-24 advantage. After an exchange of serves, Arrows junior outside hitter Maddie Burnham finished the game with one of her eight kills from the left side.

“We’ve been under a lot of pressure all year because we knew everybody was gunning for us,” said Strall, a second-team All-Ohio selection. “Even today, against a great team like Walsh Jesuit when they really pushed us in the second game, we never got discouraged or stopped fighting.”

In Game 3, Kelly caught fire with four kills in a five-point span to give the Warriors an 8-7 lead. Croci, however, answered that flurry with one of her own to propel St. Ursula to a 17-14 advantage.

Williams, who had been quiet offensively, took over from there with three push shots that found gaps in the defense and extended the lead to 21-15. Following a final Walsh Jesuit rally, Graves ended the match with a kill down the center of the court, setting off a wild celebration by the Three Rivers Athletic Conference kingpins.

“It doesn’t matter if it takes three games or five, as long as we’re the first team to win three, I’ll be happy tomorrow,” Buck said, smiling broadly. “That’s what this sport is all about.”

OHSAA Tournament – Division I state semifinals

Toledo St. Ursula 25-27-25, Walsh Jesuit 16-25-18

St. Ursula (kills, assists, digs): Maurissa Leonard 0-0-5, Erin Williams 6-2-2, Katie McKernan 5-6-2, Lauran Graces 9-0-3, Hannah Engler 0-0-0, Madison Strall 1-22-14, Madison Haupricht 0-0-011, Cassidy Croci 12-0-0, Katie Felix 1-11-4, Emma Romstadt 0-1-12, Maddie Burnham 8-0-0. TEAM: 42-42-53.

Walsh Jesuit (kills, assists, digs): Michelle Simpson 0-1-10, Brittany Zmyslinski 5-1-8, Annie Osterfeld 4-0-0, Kyra Coundourides 3-24-5, Mary Grace Kelly 14-0-8, Nicole Onderko 0-0-0, Becca Kanz 0-1-1, Courtney Grdina 0-1-14, Emma Klein 2-0-1, Carla Kanieski 1-0-0. TEAM: 29-28-47.

Match leaders

Kills: Kelly (W) 14, Croci (S) 12, Graves (S) 9, Burnham (S) 8.

Assists: Coundourides (W) 24, Strall (S) 22, Felix (S) 11, McKernan (S) 6.

Errors: Zmyslinski (W) 10, Kelly (W) 5, Williams (S) 3, McKernan (S) 3.

Digs: Grdina (W) 14, Strall (S) 14, Romstadt (S) 12, Haupricht (S) 11.

Aces: Grdina (W) 2, Simpson (W) 2, Haupricht (S) 2, Zmyslinski (W) 1.