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Volleyball: Towson falls short of state final with loss to N. Hagerstown

Towson's Hannah Wohltmann (center) and Lauren Bosse try to block an attack from North Hagerstown's Peyton Wallech during their state semifinal.
Towson's Hannah Wohltmann (center) and Lauren Bosse try to block an attack from North Hagerstown's Peyton Wallech during their state semifinal. (Brian Krista, Patuxent Publishing)

In four years with the Towson varsity volleyball program, Lauren Bosse, Kelly Lacy, Hannah Wohltmann and Ally Teuten won 70 matches and lost only five.

As defending state champions, the fifth career loss, to North Hagerstown 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-16 in the Class 3A state semifinals at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum Thursday night, may have been painful, but it doesn't erase all of their the accomplishments.

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"They should be proud," coach Emily Berman said. "They have friends who have never won a county championship — they have won four. They have won three regional championships. They have so many accolades to be proud of that they are not going to remember that we lost in the state semifinals their senior year.

Berman knows how they feel. She won a state championship on the 2001 Towson High team and lost in the finals the following year.

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"As an athlete you put the same amount of work in as a senior as you did as a junior and maybe work even harder, but they didn't get the big prize in the end," Berman said.

Last year in the state title game, Towson lost the first two sets to Centennial, but pulled off a miraculous comeback and won the final three games.

Senior setter Ally Teuten (33 assists) reflected on played against underdogs as opposed to the favorites.

"When you have something to prove, when you feel like you are the underdog, there is a certain fire that makes you really, really want it, and last year I don't even think that we thought we were going to come back and win it, so for us to actually do that was just so special," Teuten said. "There was something inside that gave us strength to really come through."

North Hagerstown (20-3) had the fire and desire thanks to the dominant middle hitting of senior Autumn Fisher (22 kills) and junior Peyton Wallech (16 kills) and solid outside work of Iman Scott (13 kills).

"This year, they had the strength and we were the team to beat and they came out and did it," Teuten said. "They did what they needed to win."

After losing the first set, despite leading 20-17, the Generals (18-2) fought back and took the second game behind strong serving from senior Emily Lansinger and well-placed hitting of Bosse and Wohltmann.

Bosse (team-high 14 kills) had five kills and a block and Wohltmann (9 kills) had four kills in the second set.

"Towson was very athletic and they were able to hit cross court and we hadn't seen that much, but we were able to adjust and pull the block in a little bit," North Hagerstown coach Megan Crawford said.

The Hubs also adjusted to Towson's tips, but were sometimes frustrated by the Generals defense, led by Lacy (16 digs, 10 kills), Wohltmann (14 digs) and Lansinger (11 digs).

"Towson didn't let many balls hit the floor so getting the ball down on them was an accomplishment," Crawford said.

What the Generals never expected was the start they had in the third game, when they fell behind 7-2.

The Generals yielded six of the seven points on errors.

"I think the third game was pivotal for us," Berman said.

Trailing 15-10, the Generals rallied with five straight points to tie it at 15-15.

Wohltmann started the rally with a kill that was followed by one from Bosse.

After a Hub timeout, the Generals capitalized on a pair of errors and pulled even when Wohltmann's diving save led to a kill by Teuten.

Trailing 20-18, the Generals seemed to gain the momentum when Bosse and Lansinger had great digs during a long rally that ended with Lacy's kill.

But Fisher's spike stemmed the tide for a 21-19 lead, before a Fisher hitting error and Lacy ace knotted the score at 21-21.

But Wallech and Scott got back-to-back kills and the Generals never recovered.

After the loss, Bosse reflected on playing with her classmates.

"I love these girls," she said. "I don't couldn't imagine playing volleyball without them. I've been playing with Kelly for eight years and Hannah for seven. They are like my family."

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