It didn’t happen right away, but the Open Door Patriots showed what they can do when they’re clicking on all cylinders.
After a slow start, a team effort across the board helped Open Door gain control on the road to sweep Lorain in three sets, 25-20, 25-17, 25-14, in the season opener for both teams Aug. 21.
The scores got better each set for the Patriots (1-0), and they won the final two sets convincingly. Despite the rough moments that happen in a match, especially the first one, Open Door showed glimpses of what can happen if the team puts it together consistently.
“We always talk about that we have two seasons, and this is the first season,” Open Door coach Veronica Victor said. “We have 22 opportunities to get better for the second season (playoffs), and we wanted to make aggressive mistakes. They started jelling, and it’s fun to be able to do that against another team and not just in practice.”
Open Door relied heavily on Bianca Yakobchuk last season, and Lorain did its best to take her out of the game. It felt like whenever the senior outside hitter would rise up to put a point away, the Titans had two girls ready to go up and block it.
From the get-go when both teams were going back and forth, Open Door’s other contributors had to show up. Sophomore Hannah Szunyogh led the team with eight kills, and she tacked on three in the first set. Rachel Faber is one of the seniors who will be counted on this season, and she posted seven kills. Yakobchuk finished with only three, but the Patriots found openings in the middle.
“That’s one thing where I think we’re better this year. Last year, we depended a lot more on Bianca and Grace (Giesbrecht),” Victor said. “We’re able to pass better and open up the middle. The middle hitters settling in takes a lot of pressure off of them.”
As good as Open Door played in stretches, Lorain hung around. The Titans led, 15-13, to start the first set, but Open Door came back with four unanswered points to take the lead. Yakobchuk was serving well, while Szunyogh provided a spark with a couple of kills.
In total, the Patriots went on an 8-1 run after trailing, 15-13, to take a 21-16 advantage. Lorain made it interesting with three straight errors from Open Door, but Faber closed the set with a kill to win it.
Another story of the match was Lorain starting off sets strong but had lapses with which Open Door took advantage. The Titans led, 4-1, to start the second set, but the Patriots quickly went on an 8-1 run to take control. Leading, 9-8, Open Door went on another 5-0 run to extend it to 14-8.
Lorain cut the deficit back down to as little as four points, but Open Door maintained the lead. Yakobchuk recorded her first kill of the match late in the second set, and an ace from Julia Reaser put the set away with a 25-17 decision.
“The energy and the passion were there, but unfortunately, we fell to some little things,” Lorain coach Capreece Irby said. “We’re a scrappy defensive team, and you didn’t see a lot of that today. I feel like we blocked very well, but it goes back to the little things.”
While the Titans struggled at keeping momentum because of the little things, that’s what propelled Open Door to a strong third-set victory. Lorain got off to another hot start with an 8-3 lead, but two straight aces from Sammy Comer for Open Door capped off a 7-2 run to tie it up at 10-10.
Five more unanswered points later, the Patriots led 15-10. With a 25-14 victory, it was a 15-4 run after Comer’s tying ace. When Lorain tried to come back and keep the game alive, Szunyogh finished it off with three more kills.
“It means a lot, and I think that was a great way to start off the season,” Szunyogh said. “Everyone was really excited, especially the last couple of points. Last year, I was very timid and nervous. I didn’t feel like I belonged and I didn’t know why my coach gave me a varsity jersey. This year, I’ve gotten into it and my team has welcomed me.”
Szunyogh and Faber led the team in kills, while Yakobchuk found a different way to impact the game with a team-high 11 digs. Comer had seven aces, and new setter Ellie Pruitt had a good debut in the role with 18 assists.
Kenya Simpson led Lorain with six kills, and Christin Castro had five.
THE SCORE (AUG. 21)
Open Door 3, Lorain 0
