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St. Hnery's Ellie Fullenkamp (5) tries to hit the ball past the defense of New Bremen's April Baker (3) and Mary Rindler in the MAC volleyball opener at New Bremen.
NEW BREMEN - It was just week one of what promises to be a long and competitive Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball season, but the raucous atmosphere at the Nest on Thursday night definitely had a postseason vibe.
And in a battle of perennial MAC powers, it was the visiting St Henry Redskins coming away with a three-set (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) victory over two-time defending state champion New Bremen.
"This is huge for us. This is huge for our confidence," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "Coming in, we knew we could do it. We knew it was going to be really, really hard, and we'd have to play a consistent match and that's what we did. We started out well, our middle played fantastic, we got balls to them. It was an awesome game and an awesome team win."
New Bremen coach Diana Kramer pretty much came to the same conclusion.
"St. Henry came to play today. Credit to them," she said. "I don't want to take anything away from what they did. They served better than us, they passed better, they set better, they hit better and when you do those things, you're going to win the match."
New Bremen's MariAna Muether (2) spikes the ball as St. Henry's Mylee Kremer blocks.
The Cardinals (4-1) opened the first set with a 5-0 run, only to see the Redskins chip away and tie the set at 11-11 on an ace by Brianna Mangen.
There were five more ties and four lead changes before the Redskins (5-1) got another ace from Mangen and a kill by Karlee Buschur to go up 24-21 and were able to hang for the 25-22 win.
The second set was not separated by more than a single point in either direction until St. Henry went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-7 lead. The Cardinals stayed within striking distance the rest of the set, trailing 21-19 late.
But the Redskins were again strong down the stretch, outscoring the Cardinals 4-1 for the 25-20 decision.
"We had our mistakes here and there, but we didn't let one mistake lead to two, three, four or five," Rosenbeck said. "That's what we talked about before the game. We can't let them go on runs. That's kind of their game. They serve aggressive and then they'll go on a run, but tonight I thought we minimized their runs."
The third set started out much like the first with New Bremen jumping out to a 5-1 lead. St. Henry battled back to tie the set 13-13 on a service ace by Addy Homan.
Again the set stayed close with New Bremen unable to generate any late momentum. St. Henry's Ellie Fullenkamp closed out the set and the match with back-to-back kills for the 25-21 margin.
"Unfortunately, every time we step on the court we're going to get everybody's best, and I think there were some nerves out there for us," Kramer said. "But I think that nerves are normal. We just need to learn to deal with them."
Fullenkamp paced the Redskins with nine kills and five blocks. Karlee Buschur finished with eight kills and a block, while Mangen contributed four aces.
New Bremen's Ava Trentman (4) spikes the ball as St. Henry's Lauren Thieman defends.
Mary Rindler was the big hitter for the Cardinals with 12 kills. Lydia Bushman added eight and Ava Trentman five. Melina Schrader collected five aces.
St. Henry was guilty of just four service errors compared to 12 for the Cardinals.
"We have some young kids out there that have never played in a gym like this," Kramer said. "So we'll learn from it. We'll get better, and I'm confident it's not the last time you're going to hear about New Bremen volleyball this season."
Even though it's early in the season, Rosenbeck like her leader-of-the-pack position.
"This kind of puts us in the drivers seat," she said. "We're in charge of our own destiny. If we just keep winning out, we don't have to worry about someone else having to lose for us. So this is right where we want to be."
Both teams are back in action on Saturday. St. Henry hosts its annual invitational and New Bremen travels to Jackson Center.
