The St. Xavier Bombers (15-6, 4-2 in the Greater Catholic League) open OHSAA tournament play in a playoff rematch against the Fairfield Indians. (5-14, 2-6 in the Greater Miami Conference) Last season the Bombers swept the Indians 3-0 in the second round of the tournament where Fairfield was outscored 75-32 including a dominant final set where the Bombers moved on to the third round with a dominant 25-9 final set.
The Bombers head into the first round scorching hot riding a six game win streak and dominating their opponents by a team score of 17-1. The Bombers took care of business in their final match of the season defeating Sycamore on the road 3-1. Senior Joe Taggart was all over the court putting pressure on both the offensive and defensive side of the net, racking up a .437 attack percentage on 22 kills with four blocks and eight assists. Behind the service line senior Rece Hausfeld was firing on all cylinders grabbing 11 aces, six kills, and seven digs. Increasing his total aces to fourth in the GCL to 28 and his service per game to fourth (0.51).
As for the Indians, they are out for revenge after being silenced in the second round last season. Fairfield lost in a close match to Baden in their recent matchup where they lost 3-0 but kept it close in the first two sets losing 23-25 and 24-26 in the second. The Indians last win came on May 5, where they swept Anderson 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 27-23)
Leading the way for Fairfield are junior Sam Bowling and freshman Braxton Furniss. Bowling sits 11th in the GMC with 154 kills and 20th in digs with 124. Bowling dominated against Anderson with seven kills and four digs. While Furniss was dominant behind the service line grabbing 28 aces with one kill and six digs. Furniss has shown he's the spark plug of the Indian offense as he ranks sixth in assists (383), assists per game, (5.98), and 16th in aces (28).
The Bomber offense will have to play passive on the serve to counter Furniss and limit momentum shifting plays for the Indians and constantly set up the attack to keep the Indians guessing. They must pass efficiently to set up Taggart while Hausfeld continues to throw Fairfield off their rhythm to keep Fairfield guessing on the attack.
As for Fairfield, they must slow Bomber momentum and force a lot of digs on the Bombers to keep them from playing out of position. Fairfield must play through Furniss to set up points and aces in order to keep the pressure on the Bombers. The Bombers will look to continue their dominance tonight at Berning Gym. With a win they would face the winner of Lebanon v. Middletown in the second round.
