Junior Abbi Mader connects on one of her match-high 13 kills during Tuesday’s 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 win over league rival Sidney. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It marked their ninth win of the season, and their 37th win in a row. Yet, Tipp coach Howard Garcia was looking for improvement from his unbeaten and defending state champion volleyball team at the expense of Sidney…and he got it!
Tipp City, OH – Not surprising, the Tipp Red Devils volleyball team is undefeated. again, as they approach the halfway mark of their season following Tuesday night’s straight-set win over Sidney (25-11, 25-13, and 25-12).
Not surprising?
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The Red Devils won the Division III state title last year with a 29-0 mark, and return vital contributors from that team like junior Abbi Mader, senior libero Faith Seifring, and middle hitter Lexi Luginbuhl.
And it’s true for the second year in a row that they’re not being challenged in the Miami Valley League by anyone like Akron Hoban and Bloom-Carroll (whom they beat to win last year’s state title). As of Tuesday, only Butler (8-1) and Sidney (7-3) statistically posed a threat to the Red Devils in terms of conference superiority. Which may account for by actual count only 104 people took their seats for the match’s opening serve. And a third of those seated appeared to be Sidney partisans. So only 60 locals for a state championship team defending its title in undefeated style?
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Is it the lack of competition?
Is it the lack of media attention…for a sport that’s literally begging to be appreciated on every level nationally for its competitive attributes for both participants and the viewing audience?
Or, is it the fact that through eight matches previous to Tuesday the Red Devils had yet to play with anything near the precision and passion that last year’s champions did with now departed seniors Savannah Clawson, Morgan Sessions, and Courtney Post?
“We haven’t been playing very clean volleyball,” admitted veteran and popular coach Howard Garcia, prior to Tuesday’s match.
And still, their lone set loss came last week in a four-set win over Eaton. Counting Tuesday’s win they’re now 27-1 in sets won for the year, regardless of what anyone says about the competition. You can only play who you play.
Sidney’s Madison Ellis sets an early point in Set 1 for the Yellow Jackets.
There has long been an adage in sports about either playing down to the level of competition on the schedule when you’re not being challenged…or, playing up to a better challenge. In some cases, as good as you have to play in order to win. In either case, the Red Devils appeared to have responded to Garcia’s concerns about precision and passion on Tuesday. And they did it with their aggressive play and their serve.
And yet, at the beginning of the match the Red Devils found themselves down to Sidney 4-1 in the first set while stumbling through some questionable hitting errors and uncertainty on defense.
“We weren’t sharp at the beginning,” said Garcia, post-match. “But our serve got us going. We nullified their serve-receive and forced them to scramble.”
They went from being down 4-1 to being up 10-5 in the blink of an eye.
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“We take our chances on being aggressive,” said Abbi Mader, afterwards. “We’re going to swing hard knowing that some of those balls are going to miss. But more of them are going to be in, too. And that’s our advantage. We play aggressively.”
The hard, sinking serves tied in knots Sidney’s ability to handle the ball. Instead of comfortably and confidently directing the ball to the setter, and then set the ball to a hitter, they sent ball 15 feet straight up in the air…or out of bounds. In volleyball it’s called being out of system, and after that opening 4-1 lead the Yellow Jackets spent the rest of the night totally out of system.
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The longer they played the better they played, bringing a smile to Garcia’s face with their 25-13 win in the second set…and an even bigger smile in the third when the Devils amassed their biggest lead of the night, 21-9, before Sidney closed the final deficit to 25-12.
Mader led all scorers with 13 kills, but the match metrics told the tale of the tape concerning the disparity of kill opportunities between Tipp and Sidney.
“Our serve was good tonight and allowed us to break down the opponent, so they could not get anything going, offensively,” said Garcia. “On the other hand, our serve-receive was consistent and it got us a lot of swings. We had 24 kills and they only had 8. So that tells you that we were breaking them down with our serve and benefiting from theirs with our serve-receive.
‘Out of system’ happens in volleyball…and can be hard to watch.
“Serve-receive is a key component to volleyball, but at the same time you have to have an attitude for it,” Garcia added. “It’s a very essential contact with the sport. And sometimes it goes unnoticed, but it’s the key to getting into the ‘system’ of volleyball. Volleyball has a lot of intricacies that people don’t understand, and your first touch on the ball [off the serve] is one of the most important. But for those who follow volleyball and understand it, you have to appreciate those teams with a good serve-receive percentage because they’re going to be efficient.”
Hence, they’re going to play clean, or cleaner, volleyball.
And hence, it remains to be seen how long the Red Devils (8-0 in MVL) can maintain it when they meet Butler (7-0) on Thursday, at Butler.
“We had some situations at the start tonight that should not have happened,” added Garcia. “A couple of hitting errors, a couple of serving errors, and balls that dropped. But we improved, overall. We showed progress tonight, big time. At the end of the day you’re the one who controls the ball, not the opponent.”
As for 104 people showing up in appreciation for a champion defending a title?
Howard Garcia puts his hands together in appreciation of a step forward in Tuesday’s win. “Big time,” said Garcia
“It’s a complicated game, compared to football or basketball,” says Garcia. “A lot of intricacies in volleyball that people don’t understand. So, I don’t know, or maybe they’re just waiting for the bigger matches, like Thursday.
“There was a time when we were the chasers – we were always chasing Troy at the time. And I said then that if we continue to do what we’re doing eventually we’re going to be the one that’s chased. And it’s come to the point where it’s flipped and now we’ve been chased for a long time.”
Thursday, at 7 pm, the two undefeated teams in league play meet for the undisputed lead in the standings. Nothing really intricate about it. Garcia and the Red Devils will be seeking their 38th in a row. Only the 2019-2020 boys soccer team at Tipp has had a longer unbeaten streak, 47, with one tie and one title.
Twice in the same decade.
Could you ask for more? Or more than 104?
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