Rangers, Flyers advance in DIV

MARIA STEIN - Two Midwest Athletic Conference teams punched their tickets on Thursday to the Division IV district volleyball tournament in Wapakoneta.

New Knoxville followed a five-set win on Tuesday with a 27-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21 win over Perry in Thursday's opener, and Marion Local knocked out another MAC rival in a 25-15, 25-17, 25-17 victory over Minster in the nightcap at the Hangar.

"You never want to go out, but if you have to, there's no better way to go out than against one of your conference foes," Minster coach Cami Garman said. "Marion's a well-respected team. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in, and all we wanted was a good volleyball game."

Marion Local will take on New Knoxville in the district semifinals on Tuesday, with New Bremen and Temple Christian on the other side of the bracket. The winners of those matches will face off next Thursday.

Marion Local 3, Minster 0

Coming in, Minster (9-14) had a worrisome tendency to slow starts, and Garman was focused on shoring up the Wildcats' play in the first six rotations.

It worked, and the Wildcats kept the game tied the first time through in the first two sets. But after that, Marion pulled away each time.

"We enjoy having teams that are used to having big gyms and playing in this gym," Flyers coach Anthony Chappel said. "Crowd's on top of you, ceiling is low. It's an advantage and I'll take it. I'd rather play Minster home."

Minster led the first set 10-9 before Chloe Ronnebaum fired a kill off the Wildcats' block to tie it, and Nora Eckstein rattled off an eight-point service run, aided by a block and two kills by Lindsay Koenig, to stake the Flyers to an 18-11 lead.

Koenig finished off the set with a pair of kills to put Marion ahead in the match.

In the second set, the Wildcats led 6-1 before Lydia Eifert's four-point service run cut the lead to one, and Minster could only stave off the Flyers so long. Nicole Franck drew them even at 11 with a shot to the back left, a Wildcats receiving error on Reagan Kremer's serve put Marion ahead, and Franck added another kill to make it 13-11.

Reagan Kremer stretched her run to eight points, and though Minster got back within five at 20-15, it was too little, too late. A tip shot by Kremer handed Marion set point, and after the Wildcats got two back, a serve into the net finished it off.

"Matchup-wise, we didn't match up real well in the front row, and that might've been why their middle six (rotations) beat our middle six," Garman said. "But at the end of the day, we fought hard."

Marion started the third set on a 9-3 run and never let Minster get closer than four the rest of the way. Koenig got kills on three straight Wildcats serves as the Flyers stretched the lead to 19-10. Ronnebaum landed a tip shot to set up match point and a hitting error into the net sealed the Flyers' win.

"We had an off practice yesterday, but when we came in today, everybody had that look," Chappel said. "I think it would've taken a small miracle for us not to pull it out today. We were going to win no matter what, or at least that's the attitude the girls had and the coaches had.

"There was no lead they had where we were down and out. We knew we were getting to 25 first."

Koenig earned a match-high 12 kills to go with three blocks. Julia Moeller racked up 17 assists and Natalie Evers added 13, while Lydia Eifert added 11 digs.

Barhorst led Minster with eight kills, while Megan Fortman recorded three blocks and Hemmelgarn finished with 16 digs.

New Knoxville 3, Perry 1

With the match tied at 1, New Knoxville pulled away early in the third with a 9-2 run to go up 12-5. Nathalie Kaup added a four-point run to make it 18-8, and despite a late Perry run, the Rangers closed out a five-point victory.

Though the fourth set saw nine ties, New Knoxville took the lead at 11-10 on back-to-back kills by Brynn Egbert and never trailed the rest of the way.

"I think they really pulled together as a team," New Knoxville coach Madison Lammers said. "We definitely re-focused in that last set, and we just responded. We started getting our passes on target so we could set up more of an offense, started getting more forced points instead of unforced errors."

The Rangers led by four before two straight hitting errors trimmed the lead, and a pair of receiving errors tied the set at 20 and forced coach Lammers to call timeout.

"I made them close their eyes and just think about that feeling, what it would feel like after winning the game, so they would have a goal to play for and give them some more urgency to finish in four," she said.

Egbert sent a shot left to right for a kill, a net violation stretched the lead to two, and Egbert added another kill before a hitting error set up match point.

After Mary Hoersten landed a tip shot to postpone defeat, Egbert saved an off-target serve receive with a one-handed bump that was tipped over the back line by a defender, sending the Rangers to the district tournament.

"I'm very thankful we got through a couple of those iffy points," coach Lammers said. "Moving forward, we really need to work on our focus, our ball control - that was a big detriment to our play tonight - but I'm really proud of the girls for sticking it out and pulling out the win."

The Rangers led early in the first set until Perry's Isabella Anderson served up an ace and forced a receiving error to tie it at 13. From there, the set saw seven ties, with Perry taking a three-point lead at 20-17 before New Knoxville rallied.

After a block by Ally Topp and Addi Albers tied it at 23, Topp's serve went into the net to give Perry set point. Egbert tied it up with a shot to the back line, but the Commodores got the advantage back on a hitting error.

Keianna Wellman tied it again with a soft shot to the middle, a Perry miscommunication gave New Knoxville set point and Egbert fired a shot down the net that landed inside the right line.

"We've got a lot of young girls on our team, and tournament time, there's a lot on the line," coach Lammers said. "Either you keep going, or your season's done. I think there's been a lot of nerves the last two games, so re-focusing them was a big part tonight."

After a slow start to the second, the Rangers tied it at 20 thanks to three Perry errors before the Commodores steadied the ship. A kill by Hoersten and three straight New Knoxville hitting errors gave Perry set point, and after a kill by Lammers, Rhema Pernell responded with a kill off the block to even the match.

"We're hitting a lot of balls out and not making the other team earn their points," coach Lammers said. "Again, they're young, so they're going to make those errors. It comes with experience, but I know they're capable."

Egbert finished with 16 kills and three blocks. Topp added eight kills and Kaup notched two aces.