Dover volleyball clinches OCC title, extends win streak to 11

As expected, Dover’s volleyball team wrapped up its Ohio Cardinal Conference championship, securing the outright title with a straight-sets victory over New Philadelphia on Oct. 7. It was a group effort as always as the Tornadoes ran their OCC record to 13-1 to win the outright league title by one game over Wooster.

The senior duo of Quincy Werntz and Caroline Hanner once again stuffed the stat sheet for the Tornadoes. Werntz had a match-high 27 assists, five aces in just 11 serve attempts and six digs. Hanner had a team-best 13 digs and eight kills,

Junior Alli Hupp had a team-leading 10 kills in the match. Senior Hailey Kuecher added eight. Senior Chera Schmidt added nine digs and led with 16 serve receives.

Two days after dispatching the Quakers, the Tornadoes finished their regular season with a 3-2 win over North Canton Hoover. Dover finished the regular season with a sparkling 20-2 record and rode an 11-game win streak into its first-round tournament match, on Oct. 15 against New Philadelphia.

Dover headed into the postseason as the No. 5-ranked team in the Division III state coaches poll.

Boys cross country

Running behind two state powerhouses, Dover finished in third place last weekend at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet at Wooster High School. Lexington, ranked No. 2 in the Division II state coaches poll, behind only New Philadelphia, won with 22 points, its five scoring runners among the top eight finishers. New Philadelphia was next with 56 points, with four in the top 10. 

Dover senior Chase Daniel finished seventh in 15:56.20, just 20 seconds back of Lexington’s meet winner, Latrell Hughes. Dover’s other four scorers bunched together: sophomores Deacon Wise (17th, 17:31.90) and Hunter Anslow (18th, 17:37); junior Maddox Miller (20th, 17:47.3); and sophomore Elijah Perlaky (17:47.4). The five were the only Tornadoes in the field of 49 runners.

Girls cross country

The Tornadoes finished sixth out of seven teams in the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet last Saturday at Wooster High School. Lexington, the No. 6 team in the Division II state coaches poll, won with 22 points, placing all of its five scoring runners in the top eight.

Sophomore Bethany Hutchison was Dover’s top finisher. She played 15th in 20:47.7, about two minutes behind champion Katya Prykhodko of Lexington. Not far behind Hutchison in 27th place was senior Addie Hindman (22:06.20). Junior Ella Kitchen finished 34th in 22:59.40; and senior Lyela Miller finished 38th in 23:16.20 to round out the Tornadoes’ scoring runners. Miller was one place and about five-tenths of a second ahead of junior Adlee Klaiber. Junior Natalie Bambeck finished 42nd in 23:49.80. There were 51 finishers in all.

Soccer

Dover’s girls got their postseason off to a nice start, finding the net eight times in a shutout of Indian Creek. That moved the Tornadoes into a second-round contest at John Glenn. Dover took a 9-7-1 record into that game. John Glenn, which nipped the Tornadoes 2-1 on Sept. 16. Bridget McCrate scored a pair of goals to lead the win over Indian Creek, running her team-leading total to nine on the season.

Dover’s boys team wrapped up a fine regular season with a 2-1 win over West Branch on Oct. 8 and took an 11-5-1 record into the postseason, which was set to start on Oct. 14 against Tri-Valley. Dover took a six-game win streak and eight-game unbeaten run into that contest. The Tornadoes outscored the opposition 46-5 during the stretch, which began Sept. 18 and covered the second half of the schedule.