Cincinnati Area Notes: Big week in GGCL

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The stakes do not get much higher in the final week of Girls Greater Catholic League play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ursuline (11-5) travels to St. Ursula (13-3) on Tuesday with first place on the line. Both teams are 5-1 in league play and Seton (14-2) is 5-2. St. Ursula then travels to Seton on Thursday with Mercy McAuley traveling to Ursuline.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mount Notre Dame (11-7) travels to Mercy McAuley (5-14) on Tuesday. The Cougars won the first meeting for the lone GGCL win between the two.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, both teams had success over the weekend. Mount Notre Dame downed St. Joseph Academy out of Cleveland and Toledo St. Ursula and Mercy McAuley went 3-2 in the Kentucky Challenge in Lexington. The Wolves beat Lexington Catholic and Kentucky 1st Region power McCracken County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ursuline outlasted Seton, 3-2 (12-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-25, 15-11) in a huge battle Thursday. The usual contributors led the Lions, but [player_tooltip player_id='152051' first='Madeline' last='Gosky'] made 13 digs that went a long way for the Lions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Greater Miami Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mason (12-4) finds itself on top of the conference at 6-0 after beating Lakota East on Tuesday. Fairfield beat Sycamore, 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) to hand the Aviators (10-5) their first conference loss of the season. Sycamore and Oak Hills are tied for second in conference play at 6-1. Sycamore and Mason play on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Sycamore with a potential share of the conference on the line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sycamore has received strong play from 5-11 freshman [player_tooltip player_id='582203' first='Sadie' last='Ellis']. Ellis gives the Aviators a chance in every game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Comets have gone 9-0 in league play eight years in a row. Their conference win streak stands at 85 in a row. They last lost a conference game at Lakota East, 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 17-25, 15-8) on Sept. 15, 2015.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GCL Co-Ed</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The McNicholas Rockets (15-3) wrapped up the league title with a 3-0 win over Alter on Tuesday then bested Summit Country Day on Wednesday for their eighth straight win. Badin (14-4) finished 8-2 in conference play for second.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cincinnati Hills League</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taylor stayed undefeated with a sound win over Mariemont last week. The Yellowjackets (13-0) are 9-0 in league play and Wyoming (9-6) is 8-1. The two meet at Taylor on Monday in a makeup game at 6:30 p.m.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>East Cincinnati Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kings and Anderson are tied for the league lead at 11-2 after Anderson won the battle Tuesday. Anderson (14-3) then ventured to Turpin and won Thursday before beating Goshen and Lakota East in a tri-match on Saturday. The Raptors have won 13 in a row since a 1-3 start. Anderson's biggest league battle remaining is Tuesday at Milford. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kings snapped the two-game losing streak Thursday with a win over Little Miami. The Knights have conference games with Loveland and Turpin remaining.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Southwest Ohio Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Talawanda (15-2) leads the four-team conference with a 4-0 mark and Harrison (5-12) is second at 3-1. Talawanda has games with Northwest and Harrison remaining.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Notable Performers</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["152051"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66fa279f2d6c1"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Gosky goes hard after balls all the time for the Lions. She takes away angles and helps get the dangerous Lion offense in rhythm. Gosky makes crucial digs time and time again when Ursuline needs them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["582203"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66fa279f2d715"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Ellis is a dominant force in the middle for the Aviators. She attacks the middle strong and finds ways to put balls down. Ellis uses her size well to time blocks. She forces hitters to go over and around her helping out the Sycamore defenders. Ellis also finds ways to be effective with out of system sets. Ellis leads the GMC with 34 blocks and is tied for seventh with 129 kills.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"McKenna Johnson","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2025","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"null","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"32564","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Talawanda","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66fa3114e88bf"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Johnson has amazing footwork for the Braves. She has great approaches from the strong left side on go routes and hits balls hard to the opposite line. She does a good job transitioning from defense to offense quickly. Johnson is third in the Southwest Ohio Conference with 150 kills, third with 142 digs and fourth with 28 aces.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["244504"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66fa3114e891b"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Olenick (pictured) is an electrifying six-rotation player for the Braves. She hits balls a number of places including a soft shove down the line from her strong left side. Olenick can use her left hand to throw defenses for a loop. Olenick goes down to her knees to dig up balls defensively. Olenick is second in the conference in both kills with 151 and digs with 166.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"Maddie Bladen","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'4u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"32926","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Hamilton","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Arsenal Volleyball Club","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66fa328cbb974"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Bladen seems to have a nose for balls. They do not land easily near her. She makes quick adjustments on tips and shoves and reads hitters well to put herself in position to dig balls up. Bladen is not afraid to go to the ground if necessary. She has quick hands making passes to setters go smoother. Bladen is fourth in the conference with 206 digs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->