Girls Volleyball: Pickle drill at the heart of Olentangy Orange’s first state tourney win
Friday, November 10, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Olentangy Orange’s Taanishi Gulati prepares to serve in the Pioneers’ 3-0 state semifinal win over St. Ursula Nov. 10 at Wright State. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Credit the pickle drill for the Olentangy Orange girls volleyball team’s performance on Nov. 10. The Pioneers either got a hand on a shot at the net or dug it out in the backcourt.
The stellar defensive performance was the catalyst in Orange’s 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 victory over Toledo St. Ursula Academy in a Division I state semifinal on Nov. 10 at Wright State’s Nutter Center.
Orange, winning for the first time in the state tournament in its first appearance, finished with 62 digs as a team and only three blocks, but many, many deflections at the net.
So, what’s the pickle drill?
“If someone doesn’t go for a ball (in practice) – if our body is not on the floor, someone yells, ‘Pickle!’ and we all dive and roll and then immediately get back into the drill,” senior defensive specialist Taanishi Gulati.
The pickle drill instilled a never-give-up attitude that’s program-wide.
Olentangy Orange’s Lily Barron hits for a point during the Pioneers’ state semifinal match against St. Ursula Nov. 10. Photo: Kevin Rouch
“I think by doing that, we realize we can get to more balls than we thought we could,” said senior outside hitter and defensive specialist Lily Barron, who had 19 kills, nine digs and four aces to lead the Pioneers. “It’s due to the fact that none of us want to leave the court and do something extra.”
The match was back and forth each set with a combined 38 ties and 23 lead changes between the three sets.
Emma Cugino led with 21 digs and five aces, Izzy Scholvin had 40 assists, six digs and two blocks, Skylar Kelso added eight kills and three blocks and Lauren Jacob added nine digs for the Pioneers.
“(Their defense) definitely made it hard to put a ball away,” Arrows senior setter Lucy Mott said. “It also puts a lot of pressure on you to match that. And you have the pressure thinking you have to get a hand on every ball and you can’t let any ball drop just like (them). I think we did do a good job of finding spots. But we had to match it a little more and we didn’t.”
The Pioneers have been on the cusp of the state tournament for a while. They were regional runner-up four consecutive season from 2018 to ’21 and were regional semifinalists the previous two seasons.
So, the win is sweet. But they won’t have long to enjoy it. Orange plays Kings Mills Kings for a state championship on Nov. 11 at Wright State.
The Olentangy Orange girls volleyball team celebrates its state semifinal win over St. Ursula Nov. 10 at Wright State. Photo: Kevin Rouch
The Knights defeated Cleveland St. Joseph Academy 25-23, 25-27, 27-29, 27-25, 15-9 in a marathon match in the other semifinal.
“Watching them go at it made me more excited for tomorrow,” said senior Maddie Cugino, an outside hitter and defensive specialist who had 10 kills and 11 digs. “Kings is obviously a really competitive team and those are the kinds of games we love and we strive in. I know they’re going to go hard and we’re going to go hard back.”
St. Ursula went to state 12 times from 2000 to 2015 and won titles in 2004 and 2010. But the Arrows came up short in their return after a seven-year absence.
Mott had 26 assists, Erynn Moloney had 12 kills, Olivia Batch had 16 digs and Devin Dzienny added 11 digs for the Arrows.
“Orange played very hard and they played a relatively clean match,” St. Ursula coach Jason Reilly said. “We always try to match up winning four of the six rotations. I thought we got stuck in one of the two rotations we weren’t winning. I thought that was a little bit of the difference where they had the matchup they wanted.”