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Marion Local's Brook Evers hits the ball against New Bremen.
WAPAKONETA - Large roaring crowds, talent all over the floor, excellent coaches - it's time for the annual matchup of a pair of Midwest Athletic Conference teams for the opportunity to advance to the regional volleyball tournament.
Thursday night in Wapakoneta, it was New Bremen and Marion Local duking it out in the win-or-go-home scenario for teh second straight year, and the Cardinals and coach Diana Kramer again prevailed in three sets, 25-18, 25-16, and 25-16 to win the district final.
"This is never an easy place to win and for us to do it in back-to-back years, it is very special," commented Kramer. "Our seniors are really locked in and they are being great leaders right now and everyone else is following along - it doesn't matter who steps up, I feel we are starting to click a little better and that is what we need to keep doing."
The Cardinals now wait to find out their opponent as Russia and Fairlawn play in the Troy District final on Saturday at 7 p.m. The winner takes on New Bremen next Thursday at 6 p.m. at Northmont High School's Thunderdome.
New Bremen's Olivia Heitkamp takes a shot past Marion Local's Natalie Evers in the Division IV district final at Redskin Gymnasium in Wapakoneta. Heitkamp finished with a match-high 19 kills as the Cardinals beat the Flyers to win the district for the second straight year.
New Bremen locked things down early in set one, when MAC Player of the Year Olivia Heitkamp delivered three straight court-rattling kills and, for good measure, junior Ava Trentman delivered a fourth through the floor to put the Cardinals on top 4-0.
The Flyers trimmed their disadvantage to one point on a couple of occasions midway through the set with an ace from freshman Mya Eckstein and a New Bremen defensive error a few moments later, but the Cardinals recovered and methodically built their lead by as many as seven points before securing the opening-set victory.
"It started in the first set tonight - New Bremen is a great team and they established themselves early," remarked Marion Local coach Anthony Chappel. "We tried to battle back and came up short here and there, and against a team like that you can't make mistakes and you can't have bad luck."
The Cardinals edged in front at the onset of set two and soon, with Heitkamp dishing up the serves, they widened their cushion to 9-4 and the Flyers never drew any closer.
New Bremen junior Keira Steininger served the Cardinals to a 17-9 command and the Crimson and Gold skated to a 25-16 victory from that point forward.
"We want to keep doing the little things right - winning timeouts, closing our seams, and doing little things that become bigger down the road," Kramer said. "We want to continue embracing the moment knowing that everyone will continue to give us their best game."
Marion Local's Sophia Fleck fields a shot against New Bremen on Thursday.
Eckstein ignited the third set with an ace and the two squads went back and forth for a couple of rotations until Steininger blew things open once again with five straight service points to put New Bremen in charge, 7-2.
The Cardinals maintained their comfortable lead as the contest drew closer to the end, and the Flyers next viable chance came when a block from Mya Eckstein and a successful tip by Grace Moeller pulled the Blue and Gold to within five again at 14-9.
New Bremen pulled away from there, and although the Flyers closed a ten-point deficit at the conclusion of the match, it wasn't enough as New Bremen picked up the 25-16 triumph.
New Bremen players hold up the district championship trophy after beating Marion Local in three sets.
"They served us tough tonight," Chappel said. "They were able to keep us out of our system - against Minster our middles really got us going, but tonight it was a lot to overcome."
Leading New Bremen (21-4) in the victory was Olivia Heitkamp with 19 kills. Alivia Dammeyer added 14 digs and six kills and Keira Steininger had 11 digs, while Amelia Dammeyer had nine kills and three aces, and Mary Rindler and Ava Trentman combined for 13 kills.
