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Marion Local's Natalie Evers sets the ball as New Bremen's Alivia Dammeyer goes up to block at the Nest on Tuesday.
NEW BREMEN - After Marion Local made a run late in the first set, New Bremen closed out the next two more emphatically.
The Cardinals picked up a 25-18, 25-10, 25-15 win in a Midwest Athletic Conference game at the Nest on Tuesday to move to 11-1 and 4-0 in the MAC.
"We played pretty clean, and we did a good job of responding to our mistakes and earning points tonight," New Bremen coach Diana Kramer said.
A six-point service run by Sarah Dwenger set up New Bremen with a 17-8 lead, but Marion (8-3, 1-3 MAC) got the serve back on a hitting error and went to work making up ground. Grace Moeller had three kills and a block, and freshman Kate Ashman served up an ace that cut the lead to four at 22-18.
New Bremen's Sarah Dwenger drops to a knee to bump the ball.
April Baker stopped the run with a shot out of bounds, which at length was ruled a tip to give the ball back to New Bremen. Baker then fired a serve between two Flyers on the back line to give the Cardinals set point, and Amelia Dammeyer's shot deflected off the block and fell on the Marion side to secure the set win.
"We knew they were going to be aggressive," Marion coach Anthony Chappel said. "We got caught in the lights a little bit at times, let them rattle off way too many service runs, got in our own heads. They did a great job of putting pressure on us, we didn't handle it well. And the coaching staff could've made a couple tweaks earlier, faster, been more proactive, so that's on us."
In the second set, New Bremen's serving kept the Flyers off balance from the first point, which Melina Schrader got inside the left line. Schrader added an ace off the net tape in an opening 4-0 run, and Keira Steininger notched two of her own in a seven-point run that made it 10-4.
Marion struggled to stay in system the whole set, and Schrader forced another receiving error in another six-point run that made it 23-8. Amelia Dammyer got a kill down the left line for set point at 24-9, and after a serve into the net, Ava Trentman fired a shot off the block to end it.
"Just trying to make somebody move and put pressure on them from our first contact," Kramer said of the Cardinals' serving. "If you can get the other team out of system, you're a step ahead and you're ready to go earn that next point. I felt like we were a step ahead tonight on a lot of plays."
The Flyers kept pace deeper into the third set, with Nora Eckstein serving up four points, including an ace, as they took a 9-8 lead. Mary Rindler responded for New Bremen with a big spike down the middle, and after trading points, Marion committed three straight hitting errors to give the Cardinals a cushion.
Trentman blocked a shot and added a kill to make it 17-12, Olivia Heitkamp had an ace that extended the lead to eight, and New Bremen pulled away down the stretch. Schrader blocked a shot by Chloe Ronnebaum to give the Cardinals match point, and Heitkamp nearly made two Flyers collide on a shot to the back left to finish off the victory.
Chappel noted that against a strong hitting team, Marion was particularly feeling the absence of injured libero Avae Unrast.
"Avae Unrast, she's our dog on defense," Chappel said. "Nora Eckstein's a great defensive player too, they complement each other pretty well. Not having her hurts against a great offensive power team.
"That's not an excuse," he went on. "They're still a great offensive power team, they're going to score points. We just have to do a better job on our block. We have put more time into it, and that's on us as coaches."
Heitkamp led the Cardinals with 16 kills. Steininger added 13 digs, and Schrader racked up 35 assists.
Trentman and Rindler, New Bremen's two middle hitters, combined for eight kills and four blocks.
"Both our middles are really, really good," Kramer said. "Mary is phenomenal, crazy athletic, and Ava matches all of that. One of our keys moving forward is getting them involved, keeping them involved, and making sure that they know how important they are to this team."
Grace Moeller had seven kills and two blocks for the Flyers. Evers recorded 13 assists.
Marion hosts Fort Recovery on Thursday, while New Bremen travels to St. Henry.
