Point proven

NEW BREMEN - The St. Henry Redskins were given the No. 1 Division IV ranking in the first Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association state poll this week.

And they wanted to prove voters right.

On Thursday, top-ranked St. Henry visited No. 2 New Bremen in a rematch of last year's Division IV district final, won by the Cardinals in five sets. This match also went the distance, but it was the Redskins winning 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 15-10) to hand the Cardinals their first loss of the season.

"It had nothing to do with last year," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "We wanted to prove that we could be at the top of the MAC and are one of the best teams in the state with the team that we have right now. That was what our focus was."

The Cardinals proved that the gap between No. 1 and 2 is small.

"St. Henry's always supposed to win," said St. Henry alum/ ex-coach and current New Bremen coach Diana Kramer, who has led her team to a state title and state runner-up in consecutive seasons. "But I think that New Bremen is getting there now. We step foot on the court and we expect to win. That's our attitude. That's our demeanor. We don't care who we're playing. Unfortunately tonight St. Henry made a few more plays down the stretch than we did, and that's what won it for them."

New Bremen had a block party early in the first set as Claire Pape and Macy Puthoff had a combined five stuffs at the net through the first eight scored points. New Bremen had a 7-1 lead after a Diana Heitkamp ace. St. Henry never led in the set and didn't draw closer than four points after New Bremen's sizzling start. Puthoff, Pape, Taylor Paul, Ashton Heitkamp and Josie Reinhart all had kills to help keep the Cardinals at a safe distance and end it.

The key run of set two came near the midway point, and it was the Redskins running away this time.

The set featured six ties and four lead changes. Tied at 9-all, St. Henry's Nora Vaughn collected a pair of kills with Hannah Bruns and Marlee Vaughn adding aces to jumpstart a run that gave St. Henry a 25-15 victory.

New Bremen went on a 3-0 run to start set three. St. Henry answered with an 8-1 run. Then the Cardinals reclaimed the lead with a 7-0 run - highlighted by a pair of aces from Paul, a spike from Puthoff and a Heitkamp stuff. That made the score 11-8, and a long service run by Reinhart stretched the lead to 20-13.

The Redskins had another run in them, though. They ran off seven straight points, tying the set at 20-all after Nora Vaughn dropped a shot in the back corner and Bremen committed a hitting error. But Bremen had the final run as it sealed the set courtesy of a Puthoff dink, a Pape block, a Paul ace and a St. Henry error.

The Redskins did just enough to win in set four. Bruns was big on the attack early, picking up her 13th kill as St. Henry held a 4-5 point margin most of the way. Naturally, it did get close at the end. New Bremen closed the gap to 20-19 before St. Henry went on a 3-0 run, which was followed by a 3-1 Cardinal spurt. Brianna Siefring's kill thwarted Bremen's comeback bid and made St. Henry a 25-23 victor.

The fifth set was tied at 1, 8 and 9. New Bremen trailed 6-2 after an ace by Grace Lange, but the home team came back to tie and take the lead (at 9-8) on back-to-back kills by Heitkamp. It was the last time New Bremen led, though. Bruns and Nora Vaughn each had kills as St. Henry wrapped up the match with a 6-1 run.

"We had our ups and downs," Rosenbeck said. "The thing that I was proud of is that we were mentally tough at the end of the game to finish. That's kind of what we've been lacking and what we've been talking about and preaching and preaching and preaching. I finally felt like we had a breakthrough."

Stat stuffers for St. Henry were Addy Vaughn (41 assists, 16 digs), Bruns (14 kills, 20 digs, Nora Vaughn (12 kills) and Marlee Vaughn (25 digs, 21 service points).

Leading Bremen were Pape (six kills, 45 assists, five blocks), Diana Heitkamp (23 digs), Paul 14 kills, three aces), Reinhart (10 kills, four aces)Puthoff (nine kills, eight blocks, three aces), Aston Heitkamp (seven kills) and Kaylee Freund (four blocks).

The defending MAC champion Redskins improved to 11-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Cardinals are now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in MAC action.

Both coaches are hopeful they'll see each other in the tournament again, too.

"I would love for a rematch," Kramer said. "… The thing is, there's so many good teams in this area that you never know and you can't take a day for granted.

"Tonight we competed and we battled with the best team in the state," she added. "Hopefully tonight makes the girls a little more hungry."

"I'd love to see them in tournament because that means we're having a tournament run, and that's what we want," Rosenbeck said. "To be the best, you're going to have to beat the best."

But until another team proves otherwise, St. Henry is the best. That point was proven on Thursday.