Monday, November 14th, 2022
Three is a magic number
New Bremen wins third state volleyball title in six seasons
By Tom Haines
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen players celebrate after winning the Division IV state volleyball championship in three sets over Monroeville on Saturday at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University in Fairborn. The title is the third state championship in six seasons for the Cardinals.
FAIRBORN - For the third time in school history, New Bremen finished the season as the Division IV state champion.
The Cardinals pulled away midway through the first set, fought through the second, and held off a late charge in the third for a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 victory over Monroeville in the state title game at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State on Saturday.
"It's a great time to be a Cardinal," New Bremen coach Diana Kramer said. "The energy in our town is just unbelievable, and while the volleyball team won the championship today, more importantly, New Bremen won a championship."
All three New Bremen titles have come in Kramer's seven years at the helm, to go with two more state runner-up finishes.
"When I took over this program in 2016, I looked them all in the eye and said, 'This program will win a state championship, and it will happen soon,'" Kramer said. "Paige Jones, who is now an assistant, confessed to me after we won in 2017 that she thought I was absolutely crazy. But they did it, they bought in.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen players hold up the Division IV state championship trophy after defeating Monroeville in three sets on Saturday at the Nutter Center in Fairborn. The title is the third in program history.
"These girls were managers in the stands, watching, (thinking), 'One day', and now they get to sit here. That's what's so cool about high school sports: these girls are the people that the little girls and the people in New Bremen want to grow up and be like."
The first set saw five lead changes early on, with Monroeville (24-5) up 11-9 before a service error cut the lead to one and Melina Schrader tied it up with a block on the right side. The two teams traded points before a serve into the net gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Melina Schrader (1) and Mary Rindler (14) combine to block the spike of Monroeville's Madison Reiber.
Schrader added on with a tip shot that the Eagles couldn't save on three passes, Amelia Dammeyer fired an ace to give New Bremen (28-1) a three-point lead, and freshman April Baker notched two aces to the back right as the Cardinals went up 18-13.
"We made a change in our 21st game, our second to last game, and it resulted in Rianna (Paul) not serving anymore and April serving," Kramer said. "So April's only been coming into matches the last couple games, and she did fabulous."
Monroeville cut the lead to two on a block and a kill by Maddie Daniel, but Olivia Heitkamp answered with a soft shot from the 10-foot line that fell in the middle of the defense, and Schrader and Keira Steininger each served up three points to close it out, with a shot by Heitkamp deflected down the net and out of bounds to put New Bremen ahead 1-0 in the match.
After recording five aces to just one service error in the first set, the Cardinals got three aces to four errors in the second, and with a weaker service game and stronger passing by the Eagles, Monroeville took the set down to the wire.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Abi Powers hits the ground to dig out the ball during Saturday's Division IV state volleyball final against Monroeville at the Nutter Center in Fairborn.
The Eagles led 16-14 before Steininger got two of those three aces back-to-back. After a three-point run by Abi Powers from the service line made it 21-18, the Eagles got two kills from Daniel and a Cardinals hitting error to tie it up again.
"Maddie Daniel is the leader of that team," Kramer said. "She's a phenomenal athlete. We knew the ball was going to her, and we still struggled stopping her."
Freshman Mary Rindler assisted on two blocks to make it 23-21, Rindler got a kill off the block for set point at 24-22, and after Paul sent a shot long to cut the lead to one, she came right back with a cross-court kill to secure a 2-0 match lead.
With New Bremen leading 9-8 in the third set, Schrader blocked a shot by Daniel and went back to the service line for a four-point run to pad the lead. Madi Clark served up four points to cut the lead to two and force Kramer to call timeout, but a serve into the net gave the ball back to the Cardinals and Powers fired back-to-back aces to make it 18-13.
Another ace by Baker gave New Bremen match point at 24-17 amid chants of "We want Mia!" from the New Bremen student section, calling for injured star Mia Schmitmeyer to take the court for a point. But Kramer didn't bite.
"I heard the crowd today saying, 'We want Mia!', but the doctors might have come out of the hospital and tackled me if I put her in," she joked.
It was good, too, that the Cardinals didn't take the win for granted, because Monroeville didn't go down quietly. Clark got a kill on a tip shot across the court, back-to-back kills by Daniel cut the lead to four, and a double-hit call made it 24-21 and made Kramer call her last timeout.
After that, Paul came through again, hitting a shot to the back right to finish off the match.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Rianna Paul spikes the ball as Monroeville's Taryn Tyler (9) defends during Saturday's Division IV volleyball state championship match.
"Most people go into volleyball games and it's such momentum and they feel confident, we are confident," Kramer said. "We were confident in who we were all year, and I think that's the difference between a gold medal and a silver medal."
At the postgame press conference, Kramer had the players share a poem they worked on at the beginning of the year, starting with the phrase, "Why not us? Why not now?"
"They bought in, they're mentally tough," Kramer said. "Their mindset isn't like the rest."
For Kramer, this year's team was special for personal reasons as well.
"What makes this team different from all my other teams is, my youngest daughter, Savannah, actually likes them," she said, holding Savannah in her lap during the postgame press conference. "She's coming around. My teams in the past, Savannah didn't always like them. Not that she didn't like them, she just knew that Mommy was going to volleyball and Mommy was spending time with other people. But this year, I've seen Savannah giving the girls hugs, and actually, I think that's the biggest difference from this team and all the rest."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Bremen coach Diana Kramer holds the Division IV state championship trophy as she walks with daughter Savannah after Saturday's state final.
Heitkamp earned 19 kills, while Daniel led Monroeville with 15. Schrader had 30 assists, Baker led the Cardinals with four aces and Powers racked up 18 digs.
Schmitmeyer, Powers, Paul and Megan Reinhart were freshmen when New Bremen last won a title in 2019.
"It's crazy, because for us, it's our first one that we've actually put in the time and worked for," Reinhart said. "For us, we've just got to enjoy the moment. It's awesome."
