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Marion Local's Grace Moeller (14) spikes the ball as New Bremen's Ava Trentman defends.
MARIA STEIN - New Bremen came from a set down to knock Marion Local from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 20-25, 25-21, 30-28, 25-19 Midwest Athletic Conference victory at the Hangar on Thursday night.
The Cardinals and Flyers both join St. Henry at 4-1 in the MAC, a game behind unbeaten Coldwater. New Bremen improved to 12-1 overall, while Marion fell to 13-1.
Marion Local had the momentum early in the match, leading the first set wire-to-wire. The Flyers biggest lead was 18-12, and New Bremen would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Marion remained in control early on in the second set until the Cardinals put together a 5-1 run to take an 18-15 lead, forcing Marion Local coach Katherine Dirksen to take a time out. New Bremen opened up a 24-18 lead as the Flyers fought off three set points, but New Bremen's Ava Trentman ended things with a kill for a 25-21 win.
"That's the game of volleyball," New Bremen coach Diana Kramer said. "Very rarely do you see a match where one team is in control the entire time, because momentum goes back and forth, and when you have two really good teams, it's going to be like a roller coaster, you're high, you're low. We just had to wait for our turn to come, be patient, and when that opportunity arose we had to take it to them."
"I just think that New Bremen responded very well from that first set," Dirksen said. "They found some things that we're still working on as a team and I really respect the fact that they gave us a chance work on those things in a game time situation, so that whoever we face next, we'll have those things cleaned up."
New Bremen's Keira Steininger (0) goes to the floor to keep the ball from hitting during Thursday's match withMarion Local at the Hangar.
The third set was a classic. The Cardinals led by as much as four, 13-9, only to see the Flyers respond with a 7-1 run to take a 16-14 lead. From that point on, the set had four more lead changes, 10 ties and the two teams were never separated by more than two points.
After Marion's Chloe Ronnebaum tied the score at 28-28 with a kill, the Cardinals ended things with a kill by Mary Rindler and an ace.
"Marion had four set points and we were able to lock it in and score," Kramer said. "That's some high level volleyball, and we needed our toughest because that Marion team is really, really good."
After the third set, New Bremen appeared to have all the momentum. Trailing 12-9 early in the fourth set, Dirksen called time out to try and fire her team up.
"I think that our girls were playing awesome volleyball," Dirksen said. "Honestly, I've seen their heart and soul on the floor, and I knew that each one of them had just a little bit more, so that was just a matter of trying to get that little bit of extra out of them."
New Bremen went on to open a 23-16 lead in the fourth set and cruised to the 25-19 win.
New Bremen's Melina Schrader (1) goes up to set the ball to a teammate. The senior had 47 assists and 15 kills to lead the Cardinals to a four-set victory over Marion Local, the first loss of the season for the Flyers.
Melina Schrader had a triple double for the Cardinals - 47 assists, 15 kills and 15 digs.
"Melina Schrader is the best player that I've seen play this sport in the longest time," Kramer said. "She does more for our team than anybody really even notices. Those 50-50 balls at the net, she's able to find a way to turn those into points for us."
Rindler finished with 19 kills and four blocks for the Cards, Lydia Bushman add 15 kills and Trentman with eight.
Mya Eckstein led the Flyers behind the service line with three aces. Grace Moeller was tops at the net with 13 kills and seven blocks.
Both coaches left the gym with some confidence after the hard fought battle.
"I am excited because things keep coming together and things keep clicking," Dirksen said. "I think we're on the cusp of playing some of our best volleyball."
The Flyers are at Lehman Saturday morning, host St. Marys on Tuesday and then travel to St. Henry next Thursday.
The Cardinals are two-time defending state champs, and Kramer thinks her team can challenge again with a little improvement.
"In the first set we have 15 hitting errors and we lose by five," she said. "We just have to clean things up on our side of the net and when we do that we can compete with anybody in the state."
The Cardinals will get a chance to put that theory to a test Saturday at top-ranked Fort Loramie. New Bremen hosts Arcanum Monday and Minster next Thursday.
