Tipp’s Abby Mader blasts a kill between Coldwater blockers during Monday’s 3-1 win over the Cavaliers. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Their consecutive set win streak is over, as Tipp discovered for the first time Monday that there can be stress in volleyball. It took four sets, for a change, to beat Coldwater.
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Tipp City, OH – Afterwards, Tippecanoe coach Howard Garcia smiled and admitted that while the consecutive set streak was over, the value of being pushed to a fourth set by Coldwater Monday was as valuable as their 3-1 win, itself.
“We needed this,” said Garcia. “We’re not accustomed to playing a fourth set and it showed. Tonight we won against a good team. We were the dominant team the first two sets. And then we had to work for it.”
The dominant team? Against last year’s Division VI state champions (minus a few significant parts, of course), Tipp took the first set 25-8, then nearly matched that in the second set, winning again, 25-9. It looked too easy. And in fact, it was, despite the fact that Tipp ultimately won in four…25-8, 25-9, 16-25, and 27-25.
Tipp’s Livia Hiser had a pair of late kills to help the Red Devils salvage the match in the fourth set.
Volleyball is game of streaks and momentum, and at the outset of the match everything was working for Tipp – serve, receive, blocking, passing, some thunderous and precise hitting. They had it all going for them against a retooling Coldwater program that while missing four cylinders from last year’s engine, still has enough this year to be 16-3 entering Monday’s match. The Cavaliers are tied for first place in the volleyball-tough MAC Conference with a 6-1 league record.
At one point in the first set Tipp scored 12 unanswered points to accumulate a 21-5 lead before closing it out, 25-8.
Again in the second Tipp strung together some impressive runs that were unanswered to sweep that game, 25-9.
But in the third the 20-0 Red Devils seemed to take their foot off the gas. Volleyball is a game of streaks and momentum…and yes, sometimes lost focus.
“I think so,” said senior Savannah Clawson. “We’ve struggled in our MVL matches with that third set, sometimes dropping to our opponent’s level. The first two sets (tonight) obviously showed the kind of team we can be. We started off bad in the third and fourth sets, but I think we remembered the kind of team we are, we played with some confidence in each other, and we were able to pull it out.”
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Garcia would hope that it’s a lesson not soon forgotten, as Tipp suffered through twenty minutes of the worst volleyball imaginable in the third, losing their first set of the year, 16-25. Their play, so dominant in the first two sets, suddenly fizzled in all phases.
“In the first set we had twelve kills, they had one,” said Garcia. “In the second set we had eleven and they had four. We had almost no unforced errors.
Tipp’s Faith Siefring came up short to save this point during Tipp’s first lost set of the season.
“Now we go to set three and we had ten kills and they had three. But we had eighteen errors. So it doesn’t matter who you are, you can play a middle school team and if you have that many errors you’re not going to win a ballgame playing like that.
“But you have to give us some credit, it was a little choppy in the fourth set, they had a little run, and then we turned to our secret weapon. Morgan Sessions went to the service line and she put us back in the game…gave us a chance to win it, and we did.”
At 11-11 in the fourth set Coldwater went on that run to take a 14-11 lead. Suddenly Tipp looked physically tired, unaccustomed to playing a fourth set.
“More mentally tired, than physical,” corrected Garcia. “It gets in your head when you get in those tight situations because we don’t see them very often. So you get mentally fatigued and you start doing things that are outside your training. And tonight was the first team that’s won a set against us in twenty matches. This was something new.”
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Trailing 21-15 in the fourth, Sessions quickly served five quick points to cut the deficit to 21-20. Then it was tied at 22-22, at 23-23, at 24-24 and at 25-25 before Tipp’s Livia Hiser bounced a kill of a Coldwater block attempt to put the Red Devils ahead for the final time, 26-25. A moment later another deflected kill found the floor and Tipp closed out the match, three sets to one.
Coldwater’s Campbell scores during the Cavaliers 25-16 win in the third set.
Sessions, it turned out, was the secret weapon by being able to serve the ball and keep it in play, putting pressure on Coldwater to play in system.
“I wanted to put some pace on it, but get it in the court,” she smiled afterwards. “I wanted to trust in our team, to perform our way. We have to stay engaged and in the third set…yeah, I think we did lose focus. We have to stay engaged, but we were able to dig deep in the fourth set and got it done.”
Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler smiled at the learning experience for her young Cavaliers, playing with just two seniors, six sophomores, and three freshmen.
“I was proud of how they responded,” said Etzler. “They’re young, and I was pleased to see them fight back. We haven’t been in an environment like this, so to see them fight and get better with each point, and to change mindset after the second set…they were very coachable and I was proud of how they played.”
And better on Monday than Tuesday, when Etzler’s team travels to New Bremen for a conference showdown for at least a share of the MAC title against the 18-2 Cardinals.
“Last year we had an older team that you could strategize with,” she added. “And this year we’ve been w0rking on that and tonight we showed that we can do a little more of it than we have in the past. That was exciting. The teams that we’ve been playing the past four weeks have been really good, and hopefully that prepares us for tomorrow night.”
Howard Garcia hopes that losing a set prepares his team, a #1 seed in the weekend tournament draw, for a month’s worth of those tomorrow nights.
“We needed this,” he repeated, flashing a knowing smile.
After all, his Red Devils are still unbeaten.
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