DII State Championship Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The NDCL Lions are the DII 2022 Ohio state champions following an exciting 3-2 win over two-time defending champion Gilmour Academy Lancers. These two programs last met in the state championship finals in 2020 in which the Lancers edged out the Lions 3-2 then. Here are some key performers from the state round.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin</em></strong><br><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='114534' first='Caroline' last='Jurevicius']</strong> - 2023<br>One of then nation's top recruits in the senior class and Prep Dig Ohio's #1 prospect, the 6'2 Jurevicius put on an exciting offensive display as she provided one of her best high school performances in the final match of her career on the biggest Ohio stage. With a match high 27 kills, she was aggressive and dynamic all match in producing one of her career best efforts. Hitting .356 against a good defensive opponent is indicative of the quality and dominance she can assert. The Nebraska commit also added eight digs, four blocks, and three aces in the win. Jurevicius had 17 kills in their semifinal win over Union Local.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sophia Morano</strong> - 2023<br>The 5'3 senior led the Lions and shared match high honors with 20 digs in the win. She complemented NDCL's blocking presence well as they earned 14 blocks as a team, forcing their opponent to play into their back row strengths at times. Morano earned double digit digs in nearly every match of the 2022 season while averaging just shy of four digs per set.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Gilmour Academy</em></strong><br><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='151988' first='Ella' last='Jackson']</strong> - 2025<br>Jackson was terrific in her distribution as she guided an offense that was balanced and terminated more balls given the 62-51 advantage the Lancers held in total kills. Hitting .234 as a team, Jackson earned five of her own kills to go along with her double-double output of 50 assists and 10 digs. She also contributed a match high six service aces.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='227796' first='D'aira' last='Whitner'] </strong>- 2026<br>The future for the Lancers was on display in the contributions from the freshman Whitner. Leading her team with 13 kills, Whitner hit a match high .357 efficiency among hitters with more than 20 attempts in the match. Over the state weekend the 5'11 middle produced 20 total kills, finishing her first varsity season with a total of 240 kills. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='152049' first='Kayla' last='Channell']</strong> - 2025<br>Channell was among offensive team leaders for this team throughout the season. She had back-to-back matches in double figure kills with 12 in the semifinals, followed by 11 kills in the championship match. The 6'1 sophomore middle has a career kill average of 62% of her attempts. With eight total blocks in the semifinal match versus Badin, she now has 153 career blocks over her first two varsity seasons.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->