Coldwater’s Campbell Etzler reaches for a kill attempt in Tuesday’s straight-set win over Marion Local. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
As young as you dare be in the cauldron of MAC volleyball, Coldwater is sizzling, #1 in the state in the latest Division V poll, and on track to peak at the right time for a strong post-season showing.
Coldwater, OH – The Coldwater Cavaliers more than made their case Tuesday night for this week’s Ohio high school coaches’ poll that rated them in Division V…ahead of Meadowbrook, Martins Ferry, South Range, Marion Pleasant and Vesailles.
In three sets the now 11-1 Cavaliers (4-0 in MAC) overwhelmed Marion Local, 25-15, 25-16, and 25-16, making even the closest points of the match seem like the inevitable in waiting.
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A team with all the attributes you need to win – size, instinct, athleticism, and a personality of having fun while they’re doing it – Nikki Etzler’s latest edition of Cavalier volleyball is easily recognizeable as being one of the state’s best teams in their division, and in Etzler’s words…they have plenty of room to grow. There’s just one senior on the roster, setter Kalyn Thobe.
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“They have their own personality, and having fun is a key for them,” said Etzler, who guided the 2024 Cavaliers to the the school’s only OHSAA title in volleyball.
“And we’re getting better in those areas of physical and mental volleyball, and that’s great to see. We’re growing in our consistency, not which team are we going to be tonight and which team are we going to be tomorrow. I thought they did a great job tonight.”
Starting with the first set, when the Cavs’ aggressive serve, hitting, and efficient serve receive put Marion Local (7-5, 1-2 in MAC) on its heels and kept them there, running out to a 14-5 lead. No amount of timeouts and urging from first-year coach Marcia Moeller seemed to help. Coldwater simply played like a team that expected to win.
Not the news Marion coach Marcia Moeller wanted to hear from an official in the first set of Tuesday match with Coldwater.
“They’re a great team, clearly,” Moeller said later. “They’re well-coached and they picked up everything tonight. Their defense was just phenomenal. We couldn’t make a ball hit the floor. They served aggressively, and our serve-receive just wasn’t there tonight…and that’s something that we normally do well.”
Volleyball is a game of momentum, but Marion Local could not wrestle any of it away from Coldwater, who while surrendering a couple of points here and there, always seemed to answer with a run of five or six. They eased into a first set win, 25-15.
A sign of good teams in any sport is consistency, and the Cavaliers picked up where they left off in the second set. Marion did establish a short-lived 7-5 lead, but Coldwater immediately washed that away with another run of 7-4, then took advantage of some Marion hitting errors to extend that lead to 20-14, and 25-16 to win the second set.
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Marion is an experienced, athletic group with seven seniors, and pride enough to make it rougher for Coldwater in the third set, forcing two lead changes and three ties before Coldwater finally broke out to a 16-14 lead, largely on the all-around play of Campbell Etzler, the junior sister of you-know-who (Stanford sophomore Spencer Etzler, her older sister), currently one of the top liberos playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Coldwater setter Brylee Knapke tees it up for a kill attempt in Tuesday’s match with Marion Local.
Like Spencer, Campbell is highly active all over the court, and already excels in making a lot of right decisions – called instinct – with the ball. They spread it around, incorporating Harlow Heyne and Ella Werling, and easily finished off with a 9-2 run to win, 25-16.
“It’s a team that loves to learn and loves to get better in practice,” smiled Etzler, trying to explain the personality of her group. “And it’s too early at this point to think about polls and #1 rankings. They’re very intentional about their touches, and their focused on getting better. I like where we are at the mid-point of the year…we want to be our best by the end of the season.
“Our coaches are challenging them to be intentional with their play, and their mindset is in the right place. I’m happy at this point because I think we can continue to grow.”
And grow in a conference full of teams ranked in their respective divisions – Parkway, New Bremen, St. Henry, Fort Recovery and New Bremen, who lost to Parkway in five sets on Tuesday.
Marion’s Faith Ronnebaum threads her kill attempt just inside the stick during the third set of Tueday’s match with Coldwater.
A thousand people showed up Tuesday for volleyball and a fundraising event at the Palace in Coldwater, and the atmosphere, befitting the MAC community, was electric.
“We’re so fortunate to play in a community and conference that care about and serve each other,” smiled Etzler. “Volleyball is a game, and to be part of that community attitude is super important.”
Marcia Moeller said it just wasn’t there for her team on Tuesday.
“These girls are all the same age,” said Moeller. “And I think we have the talent. But we have to string it all together to make it work.”
Called making the case for your game, and there are those nights. Tuesday was Coldwater’s night.
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