By VANDALIA — During its tournament run to the state volleyball tournament, the Bloom-Carroll volleyball team was always able to overcome some early pitfalls, and during their Division III state semifinal against Padua Franciscan, it looked as if the Bulldogs were going to follow the same script.
The Bears won the first set, but Bloom-Carroll came right back to tie it up in the second. In the all-important third set, the Bulldogs could not get over the hump and lost a heartbreaker.
The Bulldogs were not able to overcome that, and the Bears were able to finish them off in the fourth set and post a 25-22, 22-25, 28-26, 25-14 victory on Friday night, Nov. 13, at Vandalia-Butler High School.
Even though the Bulldogs fought back, they made some uncharacteristic mistakes, and in the end, it cost them.
“We struggled, especially in that fourth set, and I think it’s one of those things where you really don’t want to think it could come to an end,” Bloom-Carroll coach Kyle McFerin said. “I thought we made winning plays in the third set, and we played to win, but we couldn’t get the win, and then we came out flat in the fourth set. We just couldn’t get it going. We kind of got in our own way at times, with more net calls than we usually get, and we hit a few more balls out-of-bounds than we usually do. This is a state semifinal game, and you can’t do those things and expect to win.”
The third set was crucial and could have gone either way. Each time the Bulldogs were forced to score, they did, but they could never take the lead down the stretch and eventually fell.
“We were right there in the fourth set, but they were able to make a few more plays,” McFerin said. “If we win that, who knows how things would have turned out.”
Alya Mitchell had a solid game and led the Bulldogs with 15 kills. Renee Smith had 30 assists, and Kylynne Solberger had 19 digs. Josie Burr chipped in eight kills, Kylee Reiser finished with five kills, 10 digs and five aces, and Maddie Fox added seven kills.
Bloom-Carroll, which went undefeated in the Mid-State League-Buckeye Division, finishes with a 22-5 overall record. The Bulldogs were state runner-up in 2025 and made back-to-back state tournament appearances for the first time in school history. Over the last two years, they have won 49 games.
Bloom-Carroll’s five seniors have helped raise the bar for the program.
“It is hard right now, but the five seniors we had were great this year,” McFerin said. “This was a challenging season in a lot of ways, but they responded, and we grew together. We weren't a team at the beginning of the season, and we became a team as the season went on, and that’s hard to do. They did a great job of progressing, and that’s a credit to them. They have been to two straight final fours, and they have done a great job moving the program forward.”
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Bloom-Carroll volleyball title hopes fall short in state semifinal
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