Wednesday, October 26th, 2022
Battle to the end
St. Marys wins in five sets over Celina to reach district final
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Marys players celebrate after getting the final point in the Division II district volleyball semifinal over Celina at Bluffton University on Tuesday. The Roughriders face Liberty-Benton on Thursday in the district final.
BLUFFTON - Down 8-4 in the fifth set to Celina, St. Marys needed a big play to keep itself in the match at the Division II district volleyball semifinal.
The Roughriders got a lot of big plays down the stretch as they avenged a regular season loss to their cross-lake rival to take a 19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 18-16 victory on Tuesday night at the Sommer Center on the campus of Bluffton University.
St. Marys (16-9), reaching the district final for the first time since 2015, returns to Bluffton on Thursday to face Liberty-Benton for a berth to the regionals. The Eagles, state champions in Division III a season ago, swept Shawnee in the nightcap.
"It's a great feeling. First time for me as a head coach," said St. Marys coach Caley Yoder. "These girls have been working hard and we'll see what we can do."
Celina, which lost last season to Elida in the district semifinal, ends another fine campaign at 20-5.
"(Although it) was disappointing to lose, I was just very proud of our eight seniors the way they conducted themselves. Not just tonight, but the whole season and the past couple seasons," said Celina coach Phil Bange. "They're going to be impossible to replace. Hats off to St. Marys. They were ready for us."
The first four sets were back-and-forth between the two teams. A combined 24 ties and 12 lead changes occurred in those sets as Celina, which swept the regular season meeting with St. Marys on Oct. 11, took sets one and three and St. Marys came back to level the match in two and four.
"We preached serve and serve receive and how that would dictate how well we do in a match," said Yoder. "If we serve and pass well and able to run an offense, that makes it tough defensively for (other) teams."
The Bulldogs, who played just one five-set game during the regular season, got the serve to start the fifth set and scored the opening point for the first time all night when the Roughriders were called for being in the net. St. Marys tied it at 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-all before Celina got a kill from Mylee Sapp to go up 5-4. Amelia Lutz went back and served up three straight points to make it 8-4 with the final point coming on an ace.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Lily Rammel (1) and Addison Lauth (19) prepare to defend the spike of Celina's Mylee Sapp.
Yoder called time, the Roughriders got the serve back on a kill by Addison Lauth, and Halle Huston served them back into the set with three straight points to tie it up at 8. Evie Holstad got the kill to put Celina back in front, but theRoughriders immediately tied the set again with a Huston kill and Ashlie Nuss went back to serve.
"I said we're not going to win this game with one point or two points, we're going to have to play it point-by-point," said Yoder in what she told her team after the timeout. "Do your job, trust each other and play with confidence."
Back-to-back Celina hitting errors made it 11-9 Roughriders as Bange called his final timeout of the match. Brooklyn Bourne got the kill after the breather to give Celina the serve back, but a spike into the net gave it right back to St. Marys.
After trading points, St. Marys stood on the verge of clinching at 14-12, but Lutz dinked the ball over the net to get the serve back for Celina and Sapp tallied a spike to tie things at 14, setting up extra points. Huston came up big with a kill to make it 15-14, but Sapp countered with a kill of her own to tie it back up.
"Both teams were not backing down," said Bange. "The intensity in the gym - the fans that were there for the (Shawnee-L-B match), everybody was on the edge of their seats."
St. Marys went up 16-15 thanks to a Celina hitting error, but on the next point the Roughriders were called for an illegal attack, tying the set for the ninth time at 16-all. Allison Schwieterman served and the teams engaged in a long rally with Syerra Greber getting the kill for another match point and Nuss going back to serve. Celina hit the ball out to close out the match and send the Roughriders into a celebration.
"Coming into this match, we know tournament can be an emotional time," said Yoder. "We knew we would have to control emotions. Celina brings so many weapons. We were prepared for them and we played some great volleyball tonight."
"It was a super-tough match. One of the all-time craziest fifth sets I have been a part of," said Bange.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Mary's Brynn Clark tips a shot past Celina's Cora Langenkamp at the net in the Division II district semifinals at Bluffton University on Tuesday. Clark finished with a match-high 16 kills in the Roughriders' five-set win.
Brynn Clark, who was dominant in the first four sets, finished with 16 kills and eight blocks. Huston had 11 kills and 13 digs and Greber added 10 kills and 14 digs. Lily Rammel dished out 39 assists.
Lutz finished with 15 kills for Celina. Bourne and Holstad each had 10 kills in their final match for the Bulldogs with fellow senior Payton Bertke recording 48 assists. Schwieterman had 30 digs.
