Monday, November 15th, 2021
Rangers win first volleyball title
New Knoxville defeats St. Henry for first state championship
By Tom Haines
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Carsyn Henschen hugs teammate Ellie Gabel after the Rangers defeated St. Henry in four sets to win the division IV state volleyball championship Saturday at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University.
FAIRBORN - St. Henry won a hard-fought first set, but it was all New Knoxville the rest of the way.
The Rangers pulled away in the second set and held off late Redskins runs in the third and fourth to secure a 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 win in the Division IV state championship game at the Nutter Center at Wright State University on Saturday.
New Knoxville (27-2) is the state champion for the first time in its history. St. Henry, trying for its eighth state title in program history and first since 2011, ends the season at 22-7.
"I think everyone had nerves, and you could tell in the first set," senior Carsyn Henschen said. "We played timid, stayed back. The second set, we knew we had to do it now or it'd just be hard to come back. So the nerves went away the second set and we just played our game."
With the match on the line in the fourth set, St. Henry jumped out to an early three-point lead before the Rangers tied it up at 7. The two teams traded points until Henschen blocked back-to-back shots by Chloe Gels to put New Knoxville in front for good at 13-12.
St. Henry's next shot went into the net, Henschen tipped home another kill, and a Redskins hitting error made it 16-12 before Gels stopped the run with a kill to the back left. But Lydia Werling hit the serve into the net, Henschen served up three straight points, and Rya Buschur had another service error as St. Henry's mistakes compounded.
The Redskins stabilized at 20-14 and started to climb back in, starting with a kill by Claire Wendel followed by a three-point service run by Grace Lange. Avery Henschen gave the Rangers a kill to make it 21-17, Wendel answered with a kill through the Rangers' block, and Avery Henschen added another kill past a diving Brianna Siefring before serving the ball into the net to make it 22-19.
That was St. Henry's last reprieve. Carsyn Henschen hit a shot to the back left that likely would have gone long but deflected off Siefring, then landed another shot inside the back line to give the Rangers match point. As in the semifinal against South Webster, it was Haley Fledderjohann who delivered the last point, hitting a shot from the left side off Werling and Carley Winner's block that went down into the net. Winner took one last flailing swing, but couldn't get the ball up, and the New Knoxville fans roared as the bench raced out to start the celebration.
"I think the whole community was at this game," senior Avery Henschen said. "They clapped us out every game, they do so much for us. They're the best supporters we could ask for."
St. Henry started out the match well, holding its own in the first set as neither team got the lead above three. The teams tied the score 13 times and swapped the lead seven times, with the Redskins making the last run after New Knoxville took a 19-18 lead.
Winner blocked a shot to tie it up and Avery Henschen's next shot went long to give St. Henry the lead. The Rangers tied it up three more times before Siefring landed a shot inside the back line to make it 23-22, and New Knoxville mishandled the next serve to give the Redskins set point. Grace Lange delivered from the service line, as the ball hit the net and barely rolled over for an ace to clinch it.
In the first set, St. Henry had eight aces and one service error. In the final three, the Redskins had four aces and nine errors.
"I think they focused in a little more, started passing a little better," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "I think we stayed pretty aggressive at the service line, tried to make them move. I'm sure they talked about not passing very well that first game and probably made some adjustments there. They started moving and talking a little bit more."
With the second set tied at seven, the Rangers found another gear. Ellie Gabel served up five straight points to stake New Knoxville to a 12-7 lead, and the lead snowballed from there. Three of the next four St. Henry serves missed as the Rangers stretched the run to 13-4 and a 20-12 lead.
The Redskins got two kills from Gels down the stretch, but never seriously threatened, and Fledderjohann hit a shot off Wendel's block that went straight down on the Redskins side of the floor to end the set.
"We started passing the ball well," New Knoxville coach Meg Lageman said. "The first game we were a little off with our serve receive. Once we started passing the ball to Ellie and giving her three options, we were able to stay more in system and that's why we were able to go on those runs."
New Knoxville got going at the beginning of the third set, with a 9-1 run that made it 9-3 and put St. Henry behind the eight-ball. The Redskins cut the lead to four on a kill by Gels and got within three on a block by Mya Ontrop, but the Rangers responded with another five-point service run by Gabel.
Trailing 20-13, St. Henry finally made a run. Brianna Siefring got a kill to cut the lead to six, then served up four straight points to close within three. The Rangers held that lead until Avery Henschen got them to set point at 24-20 with a kill between Wendel and Siefring, when the Redskins had one last gasp. Wendel got a kill to cut the lead to three, and Carsyn Henschen's next shot to the back left went just long to extend the set.
But on the next point, Avery Henschen finished it off with another shot straight down off the block to give New Knoxville a 2-1 lead.
"I thought Bri and Chloe played very well on the outside," Rosenbeck said. "Claire stepped up in the fourth set, put down some balls when we needed her to. Grace was solid defensively.
"We had girls who obviously stepped up and played well. Knoxville's just a really, really good team."
Carsyn Henschen finished with 19 kills, with Gels right behind with 18 for St. Henry and Siefring adding 17. Siefring notched five aces for the Redskins and recorded 21 digs, while Lydia Werling finished with 42 assists.
New Knoxville got five aces and 37 assists from Gabel, while Avery Henschen and Fledderjohann each added 11 digs. Carsyn Henschen also recorded six blocks.
"I'm super proud of the girls," Lageman said. "I thought they worked really hard, and they played every point like it was their last. It was their last game together, and that's what we talked about. They went out there and they earned it."
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
The New Knoxville volleyball team hoists the Division IV state championship trophy at the Nutter Center at Wright State University on Saturday. The Rangers defeated St. Henry in four sets for their first state title.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Haley Fledderjohann fires a shot toward St. Henry blockers Carley Winner and Lydia Werling on Saturday.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Avery Henschen hits a shot toward St. Henry's Brianna Siefring in the Division IV championship game at the Nutter Center at Wright State University on Saturday.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Claire Wendel tips a shot against New Knoxville's Melisa Waterman (6) in the Division IV championship game at the Nutter Center at Wright State University on Saturday.
