Tuscarawas Central Catholic volleyball reaches Div. VII state tournament

Tuscarawas Central Catholic’s volleyball team headed to Southwest Ohio this week for the Div. VII state tournament. They Saints were major underdogs and that’s probably fine with them.

The Saints, ranked 16th in the final state coaches poll, were slated to be paired on Nov. 6 in the second of two state semifinals with Tiffin Calvert, the state’s top-ranked team, which defeated Miller City 3-0 in the Northwest Regional final. The other semifinal pitted No. 5 Monroeville and No. 4 Russia. The semis were at Butler High School in Vandalia, just outside of Dayton, giving the Saints by fair the longest road trip of the final four teams.

The winners will meet at 4 p.m. on Nov. 8 in the state final at Wright State University in Dayton.

To get to the final four, TCC had to beat Reedsville Eastern and Portsmouth Notre Dame, which they did with relative ease, dropping just one set along the way.

Eastern went down in the regional semis, 25-25, 25-19, 25-23. Senior Khloe Trivoli paced the Saints with 20 kills and 25 digs. Junior Jessica Selinsky had 24 assists.

In the regional final, despite dropping a set, the Saints actually won more convincingly. Notre Dame fell 25-19, 22-25, 25-17, 25-16. Trivoli again was tops with 29 kills, 23 digs and six blocks. Senior Nora Jackson added 16 kills and 15 digs. Selinsky had 41 assists and three aces.

Cross Country

Senior Elena Price had a solid day at the state meet in Obetz last weekend. Running in the Division IV final, the senior finished in 64th place among a field of 214 runners. Her time of 20:13.83 left her just about 18 seconds shy of earning All-Ohio status, which goes to the top 48 finishers. The winning time of 17:29.19 was turned in by Kaitlyn Carr of Smithville, who won in the race by more than 42 seconds