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Coldwater's Spencer Etzler (13) goes up for a spike as St. Henry's Karlee Buschur tries to block during Thursday's MAC volleyball contest at the Palace.
COLDWATER - Faced with losing its first set of the season, Coldwater rallied from as much as seven points down, fought off two set points and claimed a wild 29-27 second set win over St. Henry.
Having won the first set, the Cavaliers then rode the momentum to a 3-0 (25-21, 29-27, 25-16) win over the Redskins in a Midwest Athletic Conference showdown between the top ranked Division VI teams in this week's coaches poll on Thursday night at the Palace.
St. Henry, 2-1 in the MAC and 8-2 overall, jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the second set. Coldwater (3-0, 12-0)chipped away at lead, but the Redskins appeared to be in control, leading 19-15. However, the Cavs followed with three unanswered points to narrow the deficit to 19-18. A handful of controversial calls down the stretch on both sides of the net added to the intensity of the tournament-like atmosphere at the Palace.
St. Henry's Rya Buschur then capped a three-point run with an incredible play. She dove for a vicious spike by Coldwater's Morgan Blasingame, punched the ball with one fist over the net, over the Cavalier players, but inside the back line to give the Redskins a 22-18 lead.
But the momentum was short-lived. The Cavs answered with a 6-1 run, and led in the set for the first time at 24-23. St. Henry fought off the first two set points, and Coldwater the next two before the Cavs closed things out with a kill by Mia Knapke and an ace from Spencer Etzler.
St. Henry's Addy Homan hits the ground to dig out the ball during Thursday's match.
"Volleyball is a game of momentum and it's always about being two points better," Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler said. In that second set it was important for us to keep that focus, earn a point, don't let runs happen, and just be two points better.
"I think we got in a rut with that first rotation for serve receive," coach Etzler continued. "But they just kept working, and grinding and chipping away at points, so I was proud of their effort and their mindset."
"We needed to win that second set," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "We need to find a way to finish when we're playing against a good team like that and you have them down. So that's something we obviously have to work on and get better at."
The first set featured seven ties and three lead changes in the early going. Trailing 14-13, Coldwater ran off four straight points and never looked back. The Cavs opened up a 21-16 lead on a kill by Blasingame and hung on down the stretch taking the first set 25-21.
With all of the momentum from the second set on its side of the net, Coldwater jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and was never really threatened. Spencer Etzler, Blasingame and Harlow Heyne contributed a handful of kills down the stretch as the Cavs finished on a 5-0 run to take the final set 25-16.
"They are an unbelievable team," Rosenbeck said of the Cavaliers. "They're very skilled. They're very disciplined, and they're consistent the whole game, so it's very hard to beat them. Etzler and Blasingame are very good hitters. We needed to do a better job of being aggressive and getting them out of system, and we didn't."
St. Henry's Lauren Thieman (10) and Ellie Fullenkamp go up to try and block Coldwater's Morgan Blasingame.
Blasingame paced the Cavs at the net with 21 kills. Spencer Etzler added 17 kills and three aces.
Ellie Fullenkamp was the leading hitter for the Redskins with 17 kills. Molly Wendel added eight and Morgan Baumer seven.
"St. Henry is a lights-out team. They're really good and they have some great weapons, so we were excited to win the battle at the net tonight," coach Etzler said.
Coldwater has yet to lose a set this season in 53 tries.
"What we talk about are points, like playing every point, because every point matters," Etzler continued. "I think we have great senior leadership and youth that have bought in and are driven to get better every day."
Coldwater and St. Henry came into Thursday's game ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the Division VI state coaches poll. Right behind them were Marion Local and New Bremen. Coldwater, St. Henry and Marion will play in the Van Wert district and go south for regional while New Bremen and Minster will play at Wapakoneta and go north for its regional And at this point coach Etzler is not thinking about a possible rematch with the Redskins in the postseason.
"I'm going to focus on tonight, the victory, and the plan that we have," she said. "Tomorrow will be a new day with a new team ahead, so we're not looking at the future, we're focusing on today."
The immediate future for the Cavaliers will be a trip to Versailles on Tuesday. St. Henry is back in action Saturday at home against another No. 1 (Division VII) ranked team in Fort Loramie. The Redskins will then host New Knoxville on Tuesday.
