Dover volleyball drops regional semifinal; Daniel runs to All-Ohio honors

Dover’s volleyball season and the careers of the Tornadoes’ magnificent seven senior class both came to an end in a frustratingly close regional semifinal match at Darby High School in Hilliard.

The Tornadoes fell in four sets – 25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-17 – to Plain City Jonathan Alder in a regional semifinal on Oct. 25. While the final set got away from Dover a bit, the first three tell the tale of how close the Tornadoes were to moving on to the Elite 8.

The regional loss snapped a 13-match Dover win streak, which began on Sept. 16. The Tornadoes finished 23-3, with both district and Ohio Cardinal Conference championship trophies to show for that.

The usual suspects were packing the stat sheet in the final match of the season. Senior Quincey Werntz led with 31 assists and also had six blocks. She served her way to a dozen points.

Senior Hailey Kuecher had a match-high seven blocks to go with her 10 kills. Senior Chera Schmidt led with a match-best 18 digs and also had 23 serve receptions and 10 service points.

Senior Janne Molk added four blocks to go with eight kills. Senior Caroline Hanner led with 13 kills and junior Alli Hupp added 11 kills

Jonathan Alder went on to drop a rugged five-set regional final to Bloom-Carroll with a trip to the state final four on the line. The Pioneers finished 24-3.

Cross country

Chase Daniel headed to Obetz last weekend and returned to Dover as a Div. II All-Ohioan after placing 20th in the state meet at Fortess Obetz and Memorial Park. Daniel finished in 16:08.51, which was 56 seconds off the winning pace set by Landon Kimmel of Tippecanoe.

The top 48 in Divisions II-IV earn All-Ohio honors. Daniel would have earned that nod under the old system, when the top 25 runners were named all-state.

Boys soccer

The Tornadoes got within sight of the state tournament before dropping a tough 2-0 decision to Columbus Bishop Watterson in a Nov. 2 regional final at Coshocton. The Tornadoes earlier got goals from Owen Duda and Gavin Burrier, plus solid play from goalie Robert Weyland as they played their way into the regional championship by beating Jackson 2-1 on Oct 29 in Logan. Duda scored on a rebound of a Cayden Escusa shot in the first half and the score stayed 1-0 until the final six minutes, when Burrier scored on a breakaway for a huge insurance goal. Jackson scored just 23 seconds later, though, to keep things very interesting down the stretch. Watterson was to meet Hamilton Badin on Nov. 5 in a state semifinal, with Aurora and Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in the other semi. 

Girls soccer

Dover’s team’s run ended in the Sweet 16 with a 3-0 loss to Marietta in Zanesville on Oct. 28. For a while the Tornadoes had a very good chance of extending their season but they could not find the net. With Savannah Blind and the Dover defense keeping Marietta out of the scoring column, the game was still tied with less than 10 minutes left. A quick three-goal burst, two by Grace Spencer and one by Analise Spencer, propelled Marietta on to the elite 8, where it was overwhelmed 8-0 by Akron Hoban.