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Coldwater's Jayme Lorak (9), Morgan Blasingame (6) and Keria KNapke (7) go up for the block on a Parkway spike during Thursday's MAC match in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - The scores from Thursday's Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball battle between Coldwater and Parkway weren't indicative how tough of a battle it was.
The visiting Cavaliers did move to 17-0 overall and 6-0 in the MAC with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 win over the Panthers in Rockford, but there wasn't a lot of bad points through the contest.
"That's what you're going to get every night in the MAC," said Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler. "You're going to get a good testament the reason (five) teams are in the top 10 (in Division VI). It makes you tougher when you come in and know they're going to play tough."
"I thought our girls came out and played hard," said Panthers coach Jordan Henkle. "The effort, energy, desire and belief was there the whole time. (Coldwater) is a great team and they do a lot of great things."
Parkway's Cami Langenkamp (12) goes up for a spike as Coldwater's Harlow Heyne (22) defends during Thursday's match.
Neither team could get an advantage through the first half of the first set with eight total ties and three lead changes. Parkway was up 15-14 after a block by Megan Hughes, but on the ensuing Panther serve, Morgan Blasingame had a kill to tie the set again and send Mia Knapke back to serve. Two Blasingame blocks and another Cav point put Coldwater in front 18-15. The Panthers managed to get back to within two points, but Blasingame had two aces during a five-point run to get to set point, then Spencer Etzler got a kill to close it out.
In set two, the teams were tied at 7-all before Blasingame got a kill to make it 8-7. Coldwater went up by three at 11-8, but Parkway got it back to within 12-11 and looked to have got the tying point, but were called for being in the net to give Coldwater the point and the serve. From there, the Cavaliers built the lead to six at 20-14 on a Keira Knapke kill. Parkway got it back to within three, but Campbell Etzler made a great dig that went over the net and hit the Panther side of the floor for a point, then a Blasingame kill - off Mia Knapke's 2000th career assist - made it set point before a Panther hitting error gave Coldwater a 2-0 lead.
Coldwater's Mia Knapke recorded her 2000th career assist on Thursday against Parkway.
Parkway was determined not to let a sweep occur and hand Coldwater its second set loss of the season. The teams traded runs as Mia Knapke had an early serving run to make it 8-5 Coldwater, only to have Cami Langenkamp follow with a run to put Parkway in front 13-11. The teams were tied up to 16-all before a net serve gave Coldwater a 17-16 lead, Mia Knapke had four straight points to push the margin to 21-16. Parkway managed just two more points in the set before a Panther hitting error ended the match.
"We have some injuries and we're not all healthy just yet," said coach Etzler. "It's neat to see players step into positions to take care of business."
"The effort was wonderful all night," said Henkle. "We tried hard. Just let some things go and (Coldwater) went on a run each set."
Mia Knapke had 33 assists as part of her milestone night. Blasingame had 17 kills and Spencer Etzler recorded 10 kills.
Brittyn Bruns led Parkway with 12 kills and 10 digs. Bryn Schoenleben had 24 assists.
Coldwater is off until next Thursday when the Cavaliers travel to Maria Stein to face Marion Local. Parkway is back in action on Monday hosting St. Marys.
