Cavs sweep Flyers

COLDWATER - Even when Coldwater trailed Marion Local in the second set after opening with a 6-0 lead, the momentum was clearly on the Cavaliers' side.

The Cavaliers came back to take the second set, then cruised to a big win in the third set to hand the Flyers their first Midwest Athletic Conference loss of the season in a 25-19, 25-23, 25-11 win in front of a raucous crowd at the Palace on Thursday night.

The win creates a three-way tie at the top of the MAC standings with Marion, Coldwater and New Bremen standing at 6-1 with two conference matches for each team next week.

"Every match matters," said Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler.

"(Coldwater) really came out to play," said Flyers coach Anthony Chappel. "You could tell their coaching staff had them ready to go. They had us picked apart pretty good. That's on me. I didn't have them ready and fired up."

The teams played back and forth in the first set with several long points as both sides played quality defense. The set was tied six times with two lead changes. Coldwater took the lead for good at 15-14 with a Madison Wendel kill, but the Flyers got within a point at 20-19 with a Lindsey Koenig kill. Jenna Leugers put the lead back to two, Spencer Etzler stepped back to serve and came up with an ace, followed by kills by Leugers and Wendel to close out the set.

The Cavaliers kept the momentum up as Mia Knapke served up five straight points to make it 6-0 Coldwater, but the Flyers slowly chipped away at the margin. Avae Unrast tied the game at 15-all with an ace, then followed with another to give the Flyers their first lead at 16-15. Julia Moeller later added two big serves and got a great block from Koenig to make it 20-17 Marion as coach Etzler called timeout.

Spencer Etzler got the next point and Morgan Blasingame went back to serve. A quick-set by Etzler was followed by a Riley Rismilller kill and then an Etzler kill to give the Cavaliers a 21-20 lead, only to have Nicole Franck tie the set again with a kill. Chloe Ronnebaum got a kill to put the Flyers back in front 22-21, but Etzler dinked the ball over the net for another tie.

Kendra Clune scored on a block for Coldwater, but another kill by Koenig made it 23-all. Leugers stopped any Flyer momentum with a kill for set point before Wendel closed out the set with a kill.

"That's on me. I allowed them to get comfortable," said Chappel. "I should have kept pressing."

"I think Marion is so good. They're well-coached and play so well together," said coach Etlzer. "We got down a few after being up. I think just to manage that part of the game with our growth and maturity was important. A great step forward for us."

The third set had ties at 1-all and 3-all, but after that, it was all Cavaliers as Clune, Leugers and Morgan Blasingame had multiple service points early on. It was Leugers who applied the finishing touches to the match with five straight points, bookending the run with aces to close out the match.

"Great defense. Everybody was engaged. That was fun to watch and be part of," said coach Etzler.

Leugers finished her night with 12 kills, five aces and 19 assists. Wendel had 11 kills, two aces and two blocks. Spencer Etzler recorded 22 digs and Blasingame had seven kills and 14 digs.

Koenig finished with seven kills with Ronnebaum adding five kills for Marion (17-3).

Coldwater (14-4) hosts Bryan and LCC in a tri-match on Saturday before finishing the regular season with a road trip to St. John's on Tuesday before hosting Minster on Thursday.

Marion wraps up the regular season next week at Versailles on Tuesday and at the Hangar with St. John's.