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STAMFORD, Conn. Trinity Catholic High's Caitlin Ornousky stood on the service line with the ball and her team's fate in her hands. The Crusaders couldn't have asked for a better situation.
Ornousky, a senior from Norwalk, ripped off six straight points to give the Crusaders a 15-12 victory in the fifth set of Wednesday's Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference game against city rival Stamford High. Ornousky set the tone by scoring three straight points in the first game en route to a 25-16 win. Stamford won the second game, 25-18. Trinity won Game 3, 25-22, and Stamford won Game 4, 25-16.
Stamford rode that momentum to an 11-4 lead in the fifth game. Trinity chipped away, and the ball found its way to Ornousky, who stood on the line with Trinity trailing, 12-9. She fired bullet after bullet over the net, and Stamford had trouble handling them. She finished the game with her seventh ace and 20th service point of the match.
"I was just thinking get the ball in and let our team do what we do,'' Ornousky said. "I wasn't thinking about aces or anything."
Ornousky was the last person Stamford coach Mike Smeriglio wanted to see serving for the match. "She was fantastic,'' he said. "She's strong, and she can put the ball short or long, wherever she wants it. It's very difficult to handle. She's a very smart player."
Ali Palma added 15 kills for Trinity (1-2), while Maya Ferguson had 15 digs. Toniann Kinahan had 26 assists. The numbers cannot measure the Crusaders' heart, and that may have the ultimate difference in the game. "We couldn't worry about the score,'' Ornousky said about falling behind in the final game. "We thought it might come down to a fifth game. We just had to keep playing."
Stamford (2-2) saw a huge game from Jasmin Barrett, with 19 kills and eight digs. Gretta Buckley added nine kills and 24 digs, and Daria Alentanska contributed six kills and 15 digs. The entire match had an unpredictable ebb and flow, and the Black Knights got nipped at the end.
"You have to be ready for a city game,'' Smeriglio said. "I thought after the second game we might be going five games. We had good passing and serving early on in that final game. Our passing got a little bit weaker at the end."
Contact Tom Renner at trenner@mainstreetconnect.us.
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