Friday, November 4th, 2022
Clean sweep
Coldwater beats Fairview to reach regional final
By Tom Haines
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater players celebrate winning a set over Fairview in the Division III regional volleyball semifinals at Lake High School. The Cavaliers swept the Apaches to play for a regional title on Saturday against Galion.
MILLBURY - Coldwater had to stave off Fairview early, but from there it was smooth sailing all the way into the regional final.
The Cavaliers pulled away in the first set and handled the Apaches in the next two for a 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 victory in the Division III volleyball regional semifinals at Lake High School in Millbury on Thursday.
"We served so well tonight," Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler said. "We put them in some spots that weren't their comfort zone, where they liked to really run hard with 15 (Kelly Crites) and 16 (Paige Ricica). So I felt like our serving was so key, and our girls were really locked in on the game plan."
With the win, Coldwater moves on to face Galion at Lake on Saturday, with a state tournament berth on the line.
After trading points early in the first set, Coldwater eventually pulled away. Keira Knapke served up three points, aided by a pair of kills by Jenna Leugers, as the Cavaliers went ahead 12-9, but Haley Hammer responded with a three-point service run to tie the set at 12.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Madison Wendel (14) and Jenna Leugers (10) team up to block the spike of Fairview's Aubrey Hammer.
Leugers got a kill to put Coldwater back in front, then back-to-back tip shots by Madison Wendel made it 15-12. Kelly Crites got a kill to make it 16-13, but from there Fairview got just one point down the stretch, and Morgan Blasingame closed out the win with a seven-point service run, with an Apaches hitting error giving the Cavaliers set point and a net violation clinching a 25-14 set win.
"We were able to serve to seams to take them out of what they wanted, or what they're normally used to doing," Etzler said. "And I think our side too made some hard defensive plays, because 15 (Kelly Crites) is a great hitter. She's lights-out, so to defend her with our block, which I thought was really good tonight, and our defense responding from that block, that was huge."
Coldwater started the second set on a 8-2 run, fueled by two Fairview service errors and an ace by Keira Knapke, as well as a block and a kill by Madison Wendel. The Apaches pulled within three at 10-7 after a kill and a block by Paige Ricica, and after another short Cavaliers run, cut it to 13-12 on a Coldwater hitting error.
After trading the next two points, Wendel fired a shot that knocked down Carrie Zeedyk in the back row to stretch the lead to two and Knapke notched two aces in a six-point service run to put the Apaches in the rearview. Blasingame slammed home a kill in the middle to set up set point and Spencer Etzler hit one off the net that fell in front of the Fairview blockers for a 25-15 win and a 2-0 match lead.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Spencer Etzler (13) gets ready to spike the ball against Fairview at Lake High School.
The Cavaliers took an early lead in the third set after a pair of blocks and held at least a three-point advantage the rest of the way. After the Apaches closed within three at 9-6, a hitting error gave Blasingame the serve, and she fired an ace to the back left in front of Zoe Appel to make it a five-point lead.
Fairview got back within three twice more, including on a kill by Crites that made it 14-11, but Wendel tipped a shot down the line and Knapke served up three points to widen the lead. Wendel landed another tip shot to make it 19-14, then served up the next five points, including two aces to the back middle, to make it 24-14.
Ricica got a kill off the block to postpone the inevitable, but the next serve sailed just past the back left corner to send the Cavaliers to the regional final.
"I thought our right-side block did a good job setting it up so we could defend where we thought they were more than likely going to hit," coach Etzler said. "It was just an all-around great effort."
Leugers led the team with 12 kills. Wendel recorded six kills, four blocks and four aces, as the Cavaliers tallied nine blocks and eight aces on the night.
Next up, the Cavaliers face a Galion team that rallied from an opening-set loss to knock out Fairbanks in four.
"We're excited to get that opportunity to play in a regional final," coach Etzler said. "I think they're a great team. They had two outside hitters that really controlled the outside attack, so we'll have to think about our strategy against that."
Tigers advance
Versailles will play for a Division III regional title after defeating Cardington-Lincoln 25-13, 25-16, 25-21 in the semifinals of the Fairmont regional at Trent Arena in Kettering.
Versailles (21-6) will play Summit Country Day on Saturday at 2 p.m. SCD defeated Miami East in five sets in the second semifinal.
