Magnificat High School - Magnifier Yearbook (Rocky River, OH)

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Never break a date (continued from page 52) championship preview.” Regina was in first palce on the East Side and Magnificat on the West. The Royals consistently burned the Blue Streaks with down-the-line serves, and somehow they just managed to return everything Magnificat sent over the net. So the kids were forced to ac¬ cept a 6-15, 7-15 loss. They then focused their attention on steps nine and ten. The Blue Streaks zapped Central Catholic with 100% hitting and Denise Simeone ’86 playing a perfect match statistically. The 15-7 first game victory was followed by another shutout. That made nine. Step number ten put Erieview across the net. The kids responded by posting a strong 15-3, 15-7 victory. That was it. Number ten. Then it was on to CSU one Sunday evening. By then the Magnificat JV volleyball team was back to its regular self, fully pre¬ pared for the Royals. The kids took to the court playing good volleyball. But they lost the first game 9-15. Then they realized they needed to play great volleyball—the kind the Magnificat JV was known for. They had to take that second game. That was all there was to it. Rita Cutarelli ’87 and Katie Rosfelder ’87 had led the team with 93% and 92% match serving respectively. And little five-foot Catherine, who had been on reserve all season for something like this, had entered the game and acted as the catalyst to help the Blue Streaks claim a 15-11 second game victory. But that was the sec¬ ond game and this was the third. The lead went back and forth. It was vaguely reminiscent of a previous match. Every missed ball, every per¬ fectly-executed dink, ev¬ ery foul, every successful spike all added up with one difference: the kids were utterly determined to win this time. The score was tied at 14, then again at 15. And that was as close as Re¬ gina would come. The kids just took it from there to an astounding 17-15 victory. And. with it they claimed the conference trophy. So this bunch of kids evolved into champions. They said it best themselves when they yelled to Miss Polzer as she saw her toilet papered car before the match at CSU, “We nev¬ er break a date!’ —Anne Sheridan In anticipation that the ball will roll off the net, Kerry Spicer ’87 positions herself for the bump during the conference champion¬ ship match. Kerry contact¬ ed 46 bumps in that match. Her 21 jersey was “re¬ tired” for the last match because it burned when she set it on the furnace after she washed it. Kerry used junior Molly McCloskey’s old 33 instead. Photo by Ripcho. Close to the net, Cath¬ erine Sweeney ’86 backs up Katie Rosfelder as she hits from the right front posi¬ tion during the second game of the match at Cleveland State University. Katie’s hitting was 88% during that match. Photo by C. Trzcinski. JUNIOR VARSITY VOLLEYBALL 55

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Rotation in the follow- through is essential for Catherine Sweeney ’86 to bump to the front row. Catherine’s 91% bumping and 92% hitting combined to assist the Blue Streaks in claiming the champion¬ ship title. Photo by C. Trzcinski. In the center front po¬ sition, setter Rita Cutarelli ’87 decides that a high bump would give hitters Mary Kinzel ’85 and Bridgette Samame ’85 a better set-up to spike. Rita bumped 40 times in the CSU match. Photo by C. Trzcinski. Knee pads come in handy when Bridgette Samame ’85 has to dive to reach the ball. Bridgette missed the ball only once in the match at St. Joseph Academy. Photo by C. Trzcinski. The characteristic high-five is exchanged between Rita Cutarelli ’87 and Kerry Spicer ’87 after congratulations from Katie Rosfelder ’87 and Bridgette Samame ( 45) ’85. The JV’s became known for their great cheering. Photo by C. Trzcinski. 54 JUNIOR VARSITY VOLLEYBALL

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new uniforms highlighted a season that was Just for fun With a grind and a few strange noises, my car came to a stop in the Magnificat back parking lot. I found it dif¬ ficult to drag myself into the building for another meeting. Sometimes the only thing we mothers talked about at those gatherings was the activities our daughters participated in during their spare time. There was the woman who had a daughter on Student Council and another who had a senior in the musical. I was very proud to tell them that my daughter played on the varsity volleyball team. We had to cancel our vacation plans so that my daughter could at¬ tend the volleyball tryouts in mid-August. Many times she came home and went straight to bed, exhausted from a The followthrough on her bump is Joy Gorecki’s ’84 key to getting the ball to the setter in a match against St. Joseph Academy. Joy had 82% bumping in that match, which was Magnificat’s first conference loss. It was an especially disappointing de¬ feat for the Blue Streaks who, playing at home, com¬ peted with many more Jag¬ uar fans in attendance than their own. Photo by C. Trzcinski. workout in the ninety de¬ gree heat. She was so happy to make the team. Of course, we had to go right out to buy a new pair of volleyball shoes and a new pair of kneepads. In the weeks following tryouts, my daughter talked of little else but volleyball. She said that the team would be “awesome.” It surprised me when they lost to Fairview, but my daugh¬ ter said they just couldn’t get their feet moving. She was quite disappointed by that match, so I was glad to see them come back and beat North Olmsted. They didn’t show too many signs of improve¬ ment until they played Holy Name at home. They really needed to win because it was a conference match. The girls moved so well and hit the ball so hard that I think they surprised their opponents. They had so much fun, yelling and screaming and clapping hands. That match was excit¬ ing, but I found the St. Joe’s match in early October to be absolutely thrilling! The girls all looked marvelous in their new uniforms. It was amusing actually to watch them run laps in nervous anticipation of the first game. They played so well! Even though there were some individual stars, it was a tremendous and well- earned team victory. It was certainly worth sacri¬ ficing yet another family dinner to see my daugh¬ ter and her friends so ec¬ static. It was sure nice of all those people from school to come and cheer for them. (continued on page 59) 56 VARSITY VOLLEYBALL