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Coldwater seniors Morgan Blasingame (6), Spencer Etzler (13) and Olivia Broering (9) hold up the Midwest Athletic Conference championship trophy after the Cavaliers defeated Minster in three sets to win the outright confernece title.
COLDWATER - Given the talent of the member schools, winning a Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball title is impressive.
Doing so by running the table by going undefeated? Even more impressive.
Winning the title by playing just one set over the minimum? Absolutely astonishing.
Coldwater capped winning the program's fifth conference championship, second outright title and finishing the regular season at 22-0 with a 25-4, 25-17, 25-9 sweep of Minster on Thursday night at the Palace.
The Cavaliers also went 9-0 in 2014, but this year's run is made more impressive is how they have did it, playing just 62 sets this season, one over the minimum needed to sweep every match. Versailles is the only team to have won a set on the Cavaliers this season. Against conference foes, which included six other state-ranked teams, Coldwater went 27-1.
"I think the MAC is so jam-packed with talented girls and talented teams," said Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler. "To win this like we did is such a huge accomplishment. So proud of the girls. Their effort and mind set, that ability to stay focused when they needed to and take the pressure and push through it."
The Cavaliers came out with the thrusters on full power. Keira Knapke opened the match with eight straight points, three on aces and three more on blocks by freshman Harlow Heyne, before a kill by Keri Heckman stopped the run. Minster managed just four serves the entire set as Brylee Knapke added three straight points, then Spencer Etzler served up five points with a pair of aces to make it 18-2. Campbell Etzler nearly matched big sister Spencer with a four-point run to make it 22-3, then after Minster got a point back, Heyne got the termination block for the set.
Coldwater's Harlow Heyne (22) goes up to block the hit of Minster's Brooklyn Osterloh during Thursday's match at the Palace.
"Harlow had some nice blocks off of Keira's nice service run," said coach Etzler of Heyne, who had six total blocks on the night. "(Keira) got them out of system, so it was easy where our blockers were going to go with the ball. That was a great start."
Rather than mail in the rest of the match, Minster refocused in the second set, earning ties at 1-all and 4-all before Coldwater got some breathing room thanks to three service points from Spencer Etzler and two points each from Campbell Etzler and Brylee Knapke. Minster fought back, closing to within three at 19-16, but serving and hitting errors allowed Coldwater to pull away down the stretch as Paige Ontrop got a block to close out the set.
"The difference between the second set and the first two sets were we didn't get behind and didn't get down (on ourselves)," said Minster coach Chelsea McGhee. "Volleyball is such a momentum-driven game, not getting down in that (second set) allowed us to propel ourselves a little more."
Minster's Lauren Tyler reaches out to bump the ball during Thursday's match at Coldwater.
Coldwater led 3-0 out of the gate, then after Minster got a point, Coldwater put the match away with Brylee Knapke serving up eight points in row with three aces and Spencer Etzler recording her 1,000th career kill. Minster got back within single digits the rest of the match as Spencer Etzler got the honors of spiking down the final point.
"First set, they were locked in and ready to go," said coach Etzler. "I thought the second set we were playing more of Minster's tempo. That changed the game as we made some uncharacteristic errors. Third set we went back to our tempo of ball."
Spencer Etzler finished with 14 kills and three aces. Blasingame added six kills. Mia Knapke recorded 24 assists.
Kiersten Williams had four kills for Minster. Ava Stueve had seven digs with Brooklyn Osterman recording 10 assists and two aces.
Coldwater and Minster begin the postseason next Wednesday. As top seed of the Division VI Van Wert District, Coldwater hosts two matches. Marion Local plays the winner of Monday's Lincolnview-Wayne Trace match at 6 p.m. with Coldwater facing Delphos Jefferson in the nightcap. Minster, playing in the Division VI Wapakoneta District, travels to Van Buren to take on Allen East at 7:30 p.m.
