For two days last week at Vermilion High School, fans who attended the 13th Annual Lorain Holiday Classic tournament got their money's worth.

The tournament, which was played on December 27-28, featured Vermilion, Lorain, Elyria and Sandusky.

Prior to the tournament Vermilion, Lorain and Elyria all came in with 4-1 records.

Day 1 of the tournament had two great games, with some great performances.

In the first game Lorain and Elyria battled each other into overtime, with the Pioneers coming out with 66-56 victory.

Sophomore guard Kody Bender led all scores with 24 points.




Both teams showed why they are considered a couple of the best teams in Lorain County.

I wouldn't be surprised if these teams meet down the road in the Division I district tournament, possibly for the district championship.

In the second game, an undersized Vermilion team pushed Sandusky to the limit, but fell 64-61.

Delon Roldon-Johnson gave the Blue Streaks a spark off the bench and finished with 18 points, 16 coming in the second half.

On Day 2, Sandusky and Elyria faced-off in the championship game.

The Pioneers were without senior Chase Farris, who missed the game to play in an All-Star football game.

Under-manned Elyria still found a way to defeat the Blue Streaks, 62-59, to win the tournament for a second year in a row.

Junior forward Brendan Dickerson led the Pioneers with 20 and 10 rebounds.

Elyria is now 6-1, and its only loss came against Strongsville by one point. The Pioneers are a very good rebounding team and have size and scoring.

Bender and Dickerson were both named to the All-Tournament team along with Lorain's Theron Nelson, Vermilion's Mitch Novak and Sandusky's Xavier Turner and Roldon-Johnson.

They should contend for the Northeast Ohio Conference title and have a top seed going into the district if healthy.

Basketball season will be before you know it and fans of the Lorain County Holiday Basketball Classic should know that this year's boys tournament is tentatively scheduled to take place at Sandusky High School while the girls event will be contested at Admiral King. The tournament annually features the teams from Admiral King, Sandusky, Elyria and Vermilion.

The Avon Eagles shot a school record 165 at Bob-O-Link, Par 36 on Tuesday in its tri-match victory over West Shore Conference opponents Vermilion and Fairview. Not only did the team set a school record, but Katelyn Greear also set the school record as she shot a 37. Also contributing to the record day was Kaitlin Neumann (41), Emily Wallace (41) and Mary Dickson (46). The Eagles are 6-0 overall and 4-0 in WSC play.

Tuesday was also the opening night for conference play in volleyball with a few close and exciting matches.

• Powerhouse Elyria began their season with a 3-1 victory over a tough Solon team. Kristen Boros had 15 kills for Elyria, while Shelby Regiec was 128-for-131 in setting with 43 assists.

• Vermilion remained unbeaten as they came back to defeat Fairview in four games. Vermilion dropped the opening match 24-26, then reeled off three straight wins. Julia Clark led the Sailors with 13 kills. Andrea Rini also had a big night for Vermilion as she scored 26 points and served five aces.

• The best game of the night might have been Edison and Hudson. The Sandusky Bay Conference rivals battled through five matches with Edison coming out with the win. Each team alternated wins before Edison took the final match 15-13. Jesse Niedema had a big for Hudson as she went 62-for-66 in hitting with 21 kills. Not to be outdone were Edison's Emily Stewart and Cami Shine who had 21 and 16 kills respectively.