St. Henry’s Karlee Buschur puts a point away during the Redskins’ 16-3 run in the second set of Thursday’s win over Coldwater. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
As complete a performance as St. Henry has had all season, the Redskins used the best version of itself to power past defending champ Coldwater in straight sets, in a Thursday MAC showdown.
St. Henry, OH – St. Henry volleyball coach Tricia Rosenbeck could hardly contain her smile.
Her team, after hiccups, some bruised egos, and some inconsistent play over the season’s first month, had finally put three sets of competitive, consistent, and yes, dominant volleyball Thursday night in the league’s marquee matchup to take out defending state champion Coldwater (Division VI).
They did it impressively. Rosenbeck’s Redskins won 26-24, 25-9, and 25-20 in front of a raucous St. Henry crowd, and later she admitted…it couldn’t have come at a better time.
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“We really needed this one,” she said, smiling ear-to-ear. “We needed it to show ourselves that we can play at that level. I knew that we could, our coaches knew that we could, but we needed to have the players believe that they could. They need to know that they can play at a high level consistently.
“And tonight we just showed our competitive nature. We came out determined not to lose, and I’m hoping that kind of competitive spirit lasts now through the second half of the season.”
It’s no secret that St. Henry often saves its best for Coldwater in any sport. The two schools are five miles apart on Ohio route 118, there’s numerous family relationships between the two, both have a sterling competitive legacy…and Coldwater is the reigning champion in Division VI, its 2024 title the first in volleyball to join all those others in football and baseball. Yeah, it’s kind of intense when the two schools play.
The ‘Skins had their complete game…serve, passing, hitting, and defense…Olivia Gast saves a point on the backline during the back-and-forth first set.
And it showed right out of the chute, the first set tied seven different times until St. Henry pushed ahead at 17-14, forcing Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler to call a time out to curtail the momentum. It worked, if only briefly, with Coldwater climbing back into contention with the sixth tie of the set, 22-22, before taking a 24-23 lead.
But, St. Henry’s Olivia Gast came on to serve the tying point at 24-24, and then coolly tied up Coldwater’s serve-receive on the next two points to serve out the win, 26-24.
Despite big graduation losses from their title team, Coldwater was 7-2 entering the match, with just two seniors on their roster.
“Nikki has a great team…she always has her team ready to play,” added Rosebeck. “Their ball control and knowledge of the game is just so high, and I’m sure that comes from Nikki and their practices. We went back and forth, and we found a way to finish up at the end. Liv Gast has a great serve, she’s served for us for three years now, and she always give us a little spark.”
Molly Wendel made the most of her opportunities hitting in the front row.
And, Gast gave the Redskins momentum, as she came out in the second set and helped with her serve to push St. Henry out to a quick 10-1 lead. Simply put, the wheels fell off Etzler’s young team for about five minutes. And that was all St. Henry needed to eventually push the lead out to 16-3. Everything – serve, passing, hitting, defense – came together with Molly Wendel, Karlee Baumer, and Karlee Buschur making the most of their hitting opportunities at the net. It’s nearly inarguable – it was their best ten minutes of volleyball through 12 matches.
“I thought Molly had a heckuva’ night tonight in the front row, putting balls away, especially in some crucial moments.” said Rosebeck. “Not being afraid to take those big swings. I was proud that we found that killer mentality at the end.”
But down 0-2, Etzler’s Cavaliers came back to draw even in the third set at 16-16, testing St. Henry’s ability to maintain focus after the second set blowout, and a 2-0 lead.
Coldwater’s Audrey Diller tracks an incoming kill attempt during Thursday’s match with St. Henry.
And again, when they needed some killer mentality, Wendel, Baumer, and Buschur showed up to edge the Skins ahead at 19-17, and then 6 of the final 9 points to take the set, and match, 25-20.
St. Henry improved to 9-3, and 2-1 in MAC play after last week’s 3-1 loss at home to New Bremen, a loss that clearly frustrated Rosenbeck for the sake of the ‘Skins inconsistency on that particular night.
Coldwater dropped to 7-3, and joins St. Henry in the MAC standings with a mark of 2-1.
“We showed we could maintain focus, and keep our foot on the gas,” Rosenbeck concluded. “Winning in three against a team like that is something we can be proud of. I’m proud of us, because we’ve been so inconsistent…losing focus after we win one, and we didn’t do that tonight.
“We finished tonight when we had the opportunities.”
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