Mercy players and fans join in a wild celebration, seconds after the Magic completed its surprising run to the 2007 IAAM B Conference volleyball title.
No slight of hand here. This was no magic trick, no illusion. It was the real deal, Saturday, as Mercy completed its stunning ride through the playoffs with an improbable 3-1 victory over Baltimore Lutheran (21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-16) and with it, the IAAM B Conference volleyball title.
“I’m on cloud nine right now,” an emotionally exhausted Coach Michele Wittgreen told DigitalSports after the match. “I never would have thought, halfway through the season, that we would be here or accomplish this, but they dug down deep and found a way.”
Mercy was a middle of the pack team in the regular season, going 6-6 in the league. But the playoffs were a different story altogether, where it knocked off three of the top four seeds in domino-like fashion to win it all
First up was No. 4 seed Notre Dame Prep, and the Magic sent the Blazers packing with a 3-0 win. Next up? Only the top-seeded, undefeated, first-place Lions from Maryvale Prep, and Mercy ousted them by the same 3-0 score, earning a spot in yesterday’s finals at Villa Julie College.
Even then, Mercy did not make it easy on Witgreen and the rest of the Mercy supporters, dropping the first game to No. 3 seed Baltimore Lutheran, 25-21, as Lutheran’s talented outside hitter Erin Sauter led her team with four kills.
After that opener, Witgreen told her team, “What’s the deal? We were very flat, weren’t passing well. We can stop right here, or play the same way we did against Maryvale.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
Mercy came out fired up and swept game two easily, 25-15, taking back Mr. Momentum like a magician taking a rabbit out of a hat.
Holding a slim 12-11 lead, Mercy went on a nine-point run with senior setter Natalie Zoppo serving, to balloon the lead to 21-11. The Saints could not dent the lead after that long service.
In game three, the Magic slowly built a small lead into a bigger lead, withstanding several more vicious kills from Sauter. Trailing 24-20, Lutheran had the serve and a chance to make a comeback, but sophomore Ava Trageser ended it with an exclamation point, a perfectly placed kill to the open middle.
These two teams split during the season, so both knew they could win, having done so before. The Saints did not go quietly into the night, pushing Mercy to the limit in each game. In game four, Mercy stretched a 17-15 lead into a 24-15 lead with a seven-point run, including a kill by sophomore Trageser and an ace and a kill from fellow soph Caitlin Herman.
Fittingly, Trageser ended game four the same way she did game three, with another over-hand slam to the middle. Game and match.
It was all over, but for the shouting – and there was plenty of that, as the Mercy faithful stormed the court to congratulate their improbable heroes.
Trageser led the way with eight kills, and Herman added six. Zoppo contributed 15 assists and was 20-22 serving, and Veronica Gross was 14/15 serving, with four aces and a team-high five digs.
Witgreen summed it up, saying “This is the first time Mercy has been to a championship game since 2000. I’ve been there as a coach (in 2000) and as a player, and this is something they will always remember.”
In the end, this match reflected one of the great things about high school sports: deep down, everyone likes to see the underdog win, at least now and then, and Mercy’s run to the championship was inspiring to any sports fan.
Trageser, still on cloud nine like her coach, said "We played like a team, we never give up on anything. We knew we could win it, and just came together as a team, and we did it for our coach." Teammate Herman added, "I still can't believe it happened."
The Magic of that feeling will likely not wear off for a long, long time.
Mercy 3, Baltimore Lutheran 021-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-16