Coldwater senior Spencer Etzler can do it all…and saves a point in Saturday’s ‘Spikeoff’ competition with Fort Loramie. Etzler will play for Stanford University next fall. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks and Julie Wright)
With as many as a dozen area schools looming as favorites for post-season honors, volleyball continues to be the fastest-growing and most drama-packed sport for the 2024 fall season.
Coldwater, OH – It had been a decade since I last attended the annual Cavalier ‘Spikeoff’ preview tournament for area volleyball. Last seen in 2016, I returned on Saturday to watch some of the area’s most-talked about programs for the coming 2024 season, with anticipations for the post-season, as well.
We still have the photos from that day in 2016, and in a span as short as a decade you can see the difference immediately.
Minster Bank proudly sponsors your favorite sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
What jumps out at you is the size and athleticism of volleyball now, compared to then. And while you can’t compare skills in a still photo, what we saw Saturday paints a stark contrast to what you would have seen a decade ago.
Publisher and editor Sonny Fulks writes the Buckeyes and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Overall, girls are taller…more athletic…and because the sport is played year-round now, the escalation of skills cannot be overlooked. Bigger, faster, and stronger, a noted college coach recently shared that volleyball is the new football in terms of fan interest and excitement. That fact was hard to dispute if you followed the recent Olympics. Bigger…faster…skilled – scary actually – when you compare the difference in speed and power, now versus then.
“The popularity of growth of volleyball is unbelievable,” says four-time state champion coach Diana Kramer, from New Bremen. “For years now all those little girls in grade school have seen our players in the halls and in the gym and dreamed of someday being like them. They started playing at a younger age, they worked hard, and that’s what you’re seeing now.”
Ft Loramie’s Victoria Mescher strains to block the shot attempt of St. Henry’s Morgan Baumer.
And what we saw at Saturday’s 15th annual ‘Spikeoff’ as the area’s best took part in the eight-team pre-season tournament. They keep score, of course, but mostly for pride. It’s a best-of-three game format and no one really worries about winning and losing because these games don’t count towards the regular season seeding come tournament time.
“The best thing is that it gives you a chance to compare yourself to some other great teams…to see what you need to work on,” said Fort Loramie coach John Rodgers. His is one of the state’s powerhouses in 2024 Division VII volleyball, now that the tournament format has been expanded from four divisions to seven. And pitted against Miami East, Coldwater. St. Marys, Ottawa-Glandorf, St. Henry, Versailles and New Knoxville in a round-robin exhibition, the near-capacity crowd at Coldwater’s ‘Palace’ got an eyeful.
The Phelan Agency proudly sponsors coverage of MAC sports on Press Pros.
“I’ve been coming here for years,” said Versailles coach Liz McNeilan. “And I’ve never seen a gym this packed for an opening tournament. But it’s kudos to the area and its support of volleyball. There’s so many teams that can really bring the game, and volleyball is just well-known right now, nation-wide. A lot of girls are interested, they’re talented, and you bring it into this gym and it’s just a fun day of volleyball. ”
“I’ve been coming here for years, and I’ve never seen a gym this packed for an opening tournament.” Versailles coach Liz McNeilan (above).
Indeed, in front of a near-capacity crowd…a sign that volleyball could actually be the new football for fan interest and excitement.
And like with high school football, never has there been so much attention paid to the recruiting aspect of volleyball, and players destined to play at the next level.
John Rodgers can brag of two such Loramie players destined for college in Jenna Barhorst (Xavier), and Victoria Mescher (Findlay).
New Bremen coach Diana Kramer calls senior Melina Schrader “arguably” the best player she’s ever coached. Schrader has committed to play at the University of Dayton next fall.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Sienna Fry, a junior, has likewise committed her talents to the Dayton Flyers.
And heading the list of 2025 commitments is Coldwater’s Spencer Etzler, daughter of head coach, Nikki, who will attend Stanford University next fall to play volleyball for the Cardinal and study psychology.
“It is an amazing time in volleyball,” said ‘Coach’ Etzler, Saturday. “Div. VI and Division VII is filled with so much talent. And those girls pour in so much work, not just in the season, but the off-season, and it’s all lumped into two divisions. They drive, drive, drive to make each other better, and all the MAC schools, except for New Knoxville and Delphos are now Division VI. So I don’t know how that’s going to work out come the tournament, but it’s going to be brutal for the sake of competition. And probably a great thing for the fans.”
The actual list of area teams thought to be contenders for the Wright State Nutter Center, come November, is intimidating, actually. In Divisions VI and VII alone…New Bremen, Fort Loramie, Russia, Jackson Center, Marion Local, Fort Recovery, St. Henry, Coldwater, Lehman, and Versailles (Div V). Add Tipp City as a favorite in Division III, and that’s ten teams all within an hour’s drive of each other.
But for all their state titles at Coldwater, they’ve never won one in volleyball, despite having one of the area’s most enviable programs for years. Twice they’ve finished runner-up (to Versailles and Mentor Catholic), but never first. And the expansion to seven divisions for this fall hasn’t made the path any easier.
St. Henry’s Molly Wendel tips a point past the block attempt of a Miami East defender.
“We’re in division VI now, but so is New Bremen and they have a stacked roster,” says Etzler. “St. Henry is Division VI now, and they have a stacked roster. “And I think Fort Recovery can sneak in there, because they doing some great things with their program. We’re going to play Fort Loramie here today, and they’re a dynamite team, as well.”
St. Henry is still looking for their latest title in volleyball (not since 2011), but coach Tricia Rosenbeck knows that it will again be a challenge just to get out of the region, wherever that is.
“This event is always such a great start to the season because it’s a chance to see where you are as a program.” said Rosenbeck. “There’s a ton of awesome teams and awesome athletes here.
She added, “We lost two big pieces of our program last year (graduation), we’re kinda’ young, we’re trying to figure out our way leadership-wise, we need to have better presence on the floor…but we’re going to keep getting better.”
Loramie’s Rodgers has been at the ‘Spikeoff’ since its beginning.
Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie rips a point in Saturday’s action with St. Henry.
“You know when you come in here you’re going to get three really good matches,” he added. “And that’s important because early in the season you get a read on what you need to get better at, and what you’re doing well.”
His take on the growth of volleyball, from back then to now?
“Some of it is just the fact of volleyball in this area,” says Rodgers, whose Redskins won the Div. IV title in 2014. “The training these kids are getting from club programs and their high school coaches has a lot to do with it. The sport of volleyball is exploding. Kids are getting bigger and stronger, but as much as anything they just love the sport and love to play.”
As a pre-season favorite to challenge for the title again in 2024, the perennially excited Rodgers is up in the bit to get started.
“I’m excited every year for Loramie volleyball. I’ve always had great kids. My staff is tremendous. And I love what I’m doing – being around the kids and the environment of watching them get better and excel.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Sienna Fry is another Division I commit to play at Dayton next year.
‘To me that’s as important as getting those wins.”
There was no one at this year’s ‘Spikeoff’ with a brighter future in volleyball than Spencer Etzler, who’s so versatile and talented in the sport that she’s likely to play libero at Stanford in the fall. She’s the epitome of what those grade school girls in the halls aspire to be, as well as an example of the opportunities now available through volleyball.
“I’m so fortunate,” she smiled, describing what lies ahead. “Stanford is a beautiful place, a great school, and I get to go there and play volleyball.”
Where by the way, football has always been king – Jim Plunkett, John Elway, Andrew Luck and Christian McCaffrey. But Stanford football never had 92,000 for a home game, like Nebraska volleyball did a year ago on August 30, packing its own football stadium.
Another sign, perhaps.
Make room, boys. Volleyball is coming through.
Wilson Health, in Sidney, proudly sponsors volleyball on Press Pros Magazine.com.