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St. Henry's Karlee Buschur watches her shot past Parkway's Naomi Knapke (11) at Redskin Gymnasium Tuesday.
ST. HENRY - St. Henry got a sweep Thursday night, but Parkway made the Redskins sweat out the final two sets.
St. Henry got a narrow win in a close second set and staved off a big rally in the third for a 25-16, 25-23, 25-18 victory in a Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball match at Redskin Gymnasium, keeping pace with Coldwater and New Bremen atop the MAC with one match remaining.
"I thought Parkway played an awesome defensive match," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "With their blocking and their hustle, they were picking up balls. I thought they played a heck of a match."
Parkway (11-10, 2-6 MAC) erased an early deficit in the first set for an 8-all tie, but from there St. Henry (18-3, 7-1 MAC) showed why it's No. 3 in the Division III poll. Five kills apiece from Chloe Gels and Karlee Buschur carried the Redskins, and the Panthers won just two service points the rest of the way, with Gels closing out the set with a big spike.
But Parkway never let the Redskins pull away in the second. The set was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands seven times, and neither team got a lead larger than three points.
"We struggled the last two weeks making some of the little plays where we can dictate parts of the game," Parkway coach Jordan Henkle said. "I thought we did a better job tonight of having some good solid defense, the block was getting a lot of touches. I just thought we did a good job of doing what we can do to keep ourselves in the game, because they're a really good team."
Parkway had the early advantage and went up 9-6 on two straight blocks by Naomi Knapke and Bryn Schoenleben, the second finishing a prolonged rally. Karlee Buschur kept St. Henry from falling further behind with a kill and Olivia Gast served up the next six points, with back-to-back aces inside the left line to give the Redskins a 12-9 lead.
The Panthers drew even at 15, and from there the two teams tied every point up to 23. Parkway finally went ahead again at 18-17 when Knapke and Colbie Smith got up to block a shot by Karlee Buschur, but St. Henry promptly tied it back up.
"We couldn't get balls past them, they were blocking everything," Rosenbeck said. "And we had too many errors. We were just talking, we gave up one big chunk run every single game where we just had too many errors, and that kind of got the flow going for them."
Gels was called for a carry trying to save a high shot to give the Panthers a 23-22 lead, and Rosenbeck called her second timeout.
Parkway's Cami Langenkamp (left) and Paige Stephenson block a shot by St. Henry's Morgan Baumer.
Brittyn Bruns and Emmery Temple both made tremendous digs on the next point, but Morgan Baumer gave it to the Redskins with a shot down the left line. Baumer went back to the service line and fired a serve at head height that Smith couldn't handle, and her next serve got the Panthers out of system and forced a free ball, which Gels fired back inside the right line to clinch the set.
"It was good to see us find that fight and drive to come back and finish that set," Rosenbeck said. "It was just us being disciplined and us staying aggressive, just finding ways and working through."
Parkway couldn't keep up early in the third, surrendering an opening 8-2 run. Gast pushed the Panthers to the brink with an ace that made it 16-8, but from there they made one last charge.
Parkway's Colbie Smith tracks the ball in midair.
Schoenleben and Cami Langenkamp each made two blocks, Bruns had back-to-back kills, and Smith got a kill and a block on consecutive points to close within 20-18.
"I think our serve receive wasn't real crisp to start the third set," Henkle said. "And when you're scratching and clawing and fighting with one of the best teams in the state and you lose right there at the end, it does take a second sometimes to get going again. But I thought we did a great job of responding."
Molly Wendel got a shot down in the middle to stop the run, and Gels closed it out from the service line, starting with an ace. Karlee Buschur fired a shot just inside the back line, then blocked a shot by Schoenleben to set up match point, and the Panthers couldn't return Gels' serve to end the match.
The final spurt gave Karlee Buschur 10 kills and four blocks on the night.
"She is very, very athletic," Rosenbeck said, "so when's she's up in the air, it's bang-bang. She had an awesome night, working hard in transition and putting balls away. Karlee has really stepped up this year and stepped into her position and role well."
Gels had a match-high 17 kills and Gast notched three aces. Werling chipped in 44 assists and libero Rya Buschur made 19 digs.
Paige Stephenson had eight kills, while Schoenleben added 12 assists and Temple recorded 13 digs.
St. Henry can clinch a share of the MAC title at Versailles on Thursday, with a chance to win outright if New Bremen and Coldwater both lose. Parkway wraps up its regular season schedule by hosting New Knoxville.
