Rangers defeat Redskins

NEW KNOXVILLE - St. Henry battled back from a two-set deficit, but New Knoxville bowed its back with some impressive defense in the fourth set to prevail 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19) Thursday night at the Ranger Gymnasium.

With the win, New Knoxville moves one step closer to defending its Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball title, improving to 7-0 in the MAC and 17-1 overall.

Neither team had much in the way of unforced errors, and the Ranger defense seemed to improve as the night progressed.

"I thought we had a few moments where we let balls drop, but I think that fired us up a little bit, and at the end there, they had some awesome volleys," New Knoxville coach Meg Lageman said. "They played every point like it was their last, which is what I told them to do, and yeah, they played some great defense."

After the opening point, New Knoxville never trailed in the first set and cruised to the 25-15 margin. The final three sets proved to be much more competitive.

After trailing early, the Rangers tied the second set, 13-13 on a kill by Carsyn Henschen and then took the lead on an ace by Melisa Waterman.

The Redskins were within striking distance until the very end. Leading 21-20, New Knoxville went on a 4-1 run and capped off the set with a monster kill from Carsyn Henschen.

"We knew coming in that New Knoxville is a great team. I felt like we did a good job playing with them, but that's not good enough," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "We had to play an above-average game tonight and we didn't at all times. We had moments that looked really good, and then we had moments where we lapsed in intensity, and you can't have that against really good teams."

The third set featured 11 ties early on before the Redskins went on an 8-0 run to take a 19-13 lead. Just when it appeared St. Henry had control of the third set, the Rangers galloping back to pull with 21-20.

But in the face of the Ranger rally and a few close calls at the net that didn't go their way, the 'Skins got two kills from Brianna Siefring and the clincher from Chloe Gels to close out the 25-21 win, and stay alive.

"We've talked a lot with the girls about staying aggressive no matter what's happening, and I felt like our girls stuck to the plan tonight," Rosenbeck said. "They worked through some things, they didn't give up, and that's something I really proud of them for."

New Knoxville never trailed in the fourth set, but also never led by more than three points until taking a 20-16 lead late, and compelling Rosenbeck to call a timeout.

Following the timeout, the two teams engaged in a wild volley that featured several highlight-reel diving saves by the Rangers, who eventually won the point and then closed out the match.

"I thought we responded well tonight," Lageman said. "The pressure was on us. St. Henry had all of the momentum and the energy after that third set, so to be able to respond down the stretch was big."

The senior Henschen sisters dominated the net for the Rangers. Carsyn led the way with 21 kills and a block. Avery added 20 kills.

Gels paced the Redskin hitting attack with 12 kills. Siefring added 11 kills and two aces.

The Rangers hosts Lincolnview on Monday and then travel to unbeaten New Bremen Tuesday for a first place showdown with the Cardinals. New Knoxville caps its regular season next Thursday at home against Marion Local.

St. Henry (12-6, 4-3 MAC) travels to Delphos St. John's on Tuesday and finishes its regular season at home next Thursday against Parkway.